I RODE one evening with Count Maddalo Upon the bank of land which breaks the flow Of Adria towards Venice: a bare strand. Of hillocks, heaped from ever-shifting sand, Matted with thistles and amphibious weeds, Such as from earth's embrace the salt ooze breeds, Is this; an uninhabited sea-side,
Which the lone fisher, when his nets are dried,
Abandons; and no other object breaks
The waste, but one dwarf tree and some few stakes Broken and unrepaired, and the tide makes
A narrow space of level sand thereon,
Where 'twas our wont to ride while day went down.
This ride was my delight. I love all waste
And solitary places; where we taste
The pleasure of believing what we see
Is boundless, as we wish our souls to be:
And such was this wide ocean, and this shore More barren than its billows; and yet more Than all, with a remembered friend I love
To ride as then I rode;-for the winds drove The living spray along the sunny air
Into our faces; the blue heavens were bare, Stripped to their depths by the awakening north; And, from the waves, sound like delight broke forth Harmonising with solitude, and sent
Into our hearts aërial merriment.
So, as we rode, we talked; and the swift thought, Winging itself with laughter, lingered not, But flew from brain to brain,—such glee was ours, Charged with light memories of remembered hours, None slow enough for sadness: till we came Homeward, which always makes the spirit tame. This day had been cheerful but cold, and now The sun was sinking, and the wind also. Our talk grew somewhat serious, as may be Talk interrupted with such raillery
As mocks itself, because it cannot scorn
The thoughts it would extinguish :-'twas forlorn, Yet pleasing; such as once, so poets tell, The devils held within the dales of hell, Concerning God, freewill, and destiny. Of all that Earth has been, or yet may be; All that vain men imagine or believe, Or hope can paint, or suffering can achieve, We descanted; and I (for ever still Is it not wise to make the best of ill?) Argued against despondency; but pride Made my companion take the darker side. The sense that he was greater than his kind Had struck, methinks, his eagle spirit blind By gazing on its own exceeding light.
Meanwhile the sun paused ere it should alight Over the horizon of the mountains-Oh!
How beautiful is sunset, when the glow
Of heaven descends upon a land like thee, Thou paradise of exiles, Italy!
Thy mountains, seas, and vineyards, and the towers Of cities they encircle!-It was ours
To stand on thee, beholding it: and then,
Just where we had dismounted, the Count's men
Were waiting for us with the gondola.
As those who pause on some delightful way, Tho' bent on pleasant pilgrimage, we stood, Looking upon the evening and the flood, Which lay between the city and the shore, Paved with the image of the sky: the hoar And aery Alps, towards the north, appeared, Thro' mist, an heaven-sustaining bulwark, reared Between the east and west; and half the sky Was roofed with clouds of rich emblazonry, Dark purple at the zenith, which still grew Down the steep west into a wondrous hue Brighter than burning gold; even to the rent Where the swift sun yet paused in his descent Among the many folded hills-they were Those famous Euganean hills, which bear, As seen from Lido thro' the harbour piles, The likeness of a clump of peaked isles- And then, as if the earth and sea had been Dissolved into one lake of fire, were seen Those mountains towering, as from waves of flame, Around the vaporous sun, from which there came The inmost purple spirit of light, and made
Their very peaks transparent. "Ere it fade," my companion, "I will show you soon A better station." So, o'er the lagune We glided; and from that funereal bark
I leaned, and saw the city, and could mark How from their many isles, in evening's gleam, Its temples and its palaces did seem
Like fabrics of enchantment piled to heav'n. I was about to speak, when-" We are even Now at the point I meant," said Maddalo, And bade the gondolieri cease to row. "Look, Julian, on the west, and listen well If you hear not a deep and heavy bell." I looked, and saw between us and the sun A building on an island, such an one As age to age might add, for uses vile,- A windowless, deformed and dreary pile; And on the top an open tower, where hung A bell, which in the radiance swayed and swung, We could just hear its hoarse and iron tongue: The broad sun sank behind it, and it tolled In strong and black relief." What we behold Shall be the madhouse and its belfry tower;"- Said Maddalo, "and even at this hour, Those who may cross the water hear that bell, Which calls the maniacs, each one from his cell, To vespers."—" As much skill as need to pray, In thanks or hope for their dark lot have they, To their stern maker,” I replied.—“ O, ho! You talk as in years past," said Maddalo. ""Tis strange men change not. You were ever still Among Christ's flock a perilous infidel,
A wolf for the meek lambs: if you can't swim, Beware of providence." I looked on him, But the gay smile had faded from his eye. "And such," he cried, " is our mortality; And this must be the emblem and the sign Of what should be eternal and divine; And like that black and dreary bell the soul, Hung in an heav'n-illumined tower, must toll Our thoughts and our desires to meet below Round the rent heart, and pray-as madmen do; For what? they know not, till the night of death, As sunset that strange vision, severeth Our memory from itself, and us from all We sought, and yet were baffled." I recall The sense of what he said, although I mar The force of his expressions. The broad star Of day meanwhile had sunk behind the hill; And the black bell became invisible; And the red tower looked grey; and all between, The churches, ships, and palaces, were seen Huddled in gloom; into the purple sea The orange hues of heaven sunk silently. We hardly spoke, and soon the gondola Conveyed me to my lodging by the way.
The following morn was rainy, cold, and dim: Ere Maddalo arose I called on him,
And whilst I waited, with his child I played;
A lovelier toy sweet Nature never made;
A serious, subtle, wild, yet gentle being; Graceful without design, and unforeseeing;
With eyes-Oh! speak not of her eyes! which seem
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