ALCIPHRON: A FRAGMENT. LETTER I. FROM ALCIPHRON AT ALEXANDRIA TO CLEON AT ATHENS. WELL may you wonder at my flight From those fair Gardens in whose Lingers whate'er of wise and bright, Where all is found that all desire, And Time hath wings that never tire; Where bliss in all the countless shapes That Fancy's self to bliss hath given Comes clustering round like road-side - what I fear at- - why I'm And now to tell thee Suddenly o'er my spirit fly, Like clouds that ere we 've time to say "How bright the sky is!" shade the sky. Sometimes so vague, so undefined Were these strange darkenings of my mind While naught but joy around me beamed So causelessly they 've come and flown, That not of life or earth they seemed, But shadows from some world unknown. More oft, however, 't was the thought How soon that scene with all its Thou know'st that night the very last When he set Pleasure on the throne That night when all our mirth was o'er, Some mournful secret in their light; And asked them mid that silence why Man, glorious man, alone must die, While they, less wonderful than he, Shine on thro' all eternity. That night-thou haply may'st forget Its loveliness- but 't was a night To make earth's meanest slave regret Leaving a world so soft and bright. Of all the choice of Nature's grace Sleep came then o'er me-and I seemed From a small taper in the hand Came o'er the wanness of his cheek"Go and beside the sacred Nile "You'll find the Eternal Life you seek." Soon as he spoke these words the hue 1 See "Evenings in Greece," p. 346. Farewell when to our Garden friends Is worthy of the School and them; Even while his heart and soul pursue The Eternal Light which never sets, The many meteor joys that do, But seeks them, hails them with delight Where'er they meet his longing sight. And if his life must wane away Like other lives at least the day, The hour it lasts shall like a fire With incense fed in sweets expire. Couldst thou but see how like a poet's dream This lovely land now looks! — the glori ous stream That late between its banks was seen to glide 'Mong shrines and marble cities on each side Glittering like jewels strung along a chain Hath now sent forth its waters, and o'er plain And valley like a giant from his bed Rising with outstretched limbs hath grandly spread. While far as sight can reach beneath as clear And blue a heaven as ever blest our sphere, Gardens and pillared streets and porphyry domes And high-built temples fit to be the homes Of mighty Gods, and pyramids whose hour Outlasts all time above the waters tower ! Then, too, the scenes of pomp and joy that make |