SUCH was Zonoras: and, as daylight finds One amaranth glittering on the path of frost When autumn nights have nipped all weaker kinds, Thus through his age, dark, cold, and tempest-tossed, Shone truth upon Zonoras; and he filled From fountains pure, nigh overgrown and lost, The spirit of Prince Athanase, a child, With soul-sustaining songs of ancient lore, And philosophic wisdom, clear and mild. And sweet and subtle talk now evermore The pupil and the master shared; until, Sharing that undiminishable store, The youth, as shadows on a grassy hill Outrun the winds that chase them, soon outran Strange truths and new to that experienced man. Or by the rocks of echoing ocean hoar, By summer woodmen. And, when winter's roar Hanging upon the peaked wave afar, Then saw their lamp from Laian's turret gleam, Piercing the stormy darkness, like a star Which pours beyond the sea one steadfast beam, Whilst all the constellations of the sky Seemed reeling through the storm; they did but seem For, lo! the wintry clouds are all gone by, And bright Arcturus through yon pines is glowing, And far o'er southern waves immovably Belted Orion hangs-warm light is flowing From the young moon into the sunset's chasm.- On thine own bird the sweet enthusiasm Which overflows in notes of liquid gladness, Filling the sky like light! How many a spasm Of fevered brains oppressed with grief and madness Were lulled by thee, delightful nightingale ! And these soft waves murmuring a gentle sadness, And the far sighings of yon piny dale Made vocal by some wind, we feel not here.I bear alone what nothing may avail To lighten a strange load!"-No human ear Of dark emotion, a swift shadow, ran, Like wind upon some forest-bosomed lake, Glassy and dark. And that divine old man Beheld his mystic friend's whole being shake, Even where its inmost depths were gloomiest: And with a calm and measured voice he spake, And with a soft and equal pressure pressed That cold lean hand. "Dost thou remember yet, When the curved moon, then lingering in the west, Paused in yon waves her mighty horns to wet, How in those beams we walked, half resting on the sea? 'Tis just one year-sure thou dost not forget! Then Plato's words of light in thee and me Is faithful now-the story of the feast ; From death and dark forgetfulness released." 'TWAS at the season when the Earth upsprings To see it rise thus joyous from its dreams, The fresh and radiant Earth. The hoary grove Waxed green, and flowers burst forth like starry beams; The grass in the warm sun did start and move, How many a spirit then puts on the pinions And his own steps-and over wide dominions Sweeps in his dream-drawn chariot, far and fast, More fleet than storms !--the wide world shrinks below, When winter and despondency are past. "TWAS at this season that Prince Athanase Passed the white Alps. Those eagle-baffling mountains Slept in their shrouds of snow. Beside the ways The waterfalls were voiceless; for their fountains Or, by the curdling winds-like brazen wings THOU art the wine whose drunkenness is all We can desire, O Love! and happy souls, Catch thee, and feed from their o'erflowing bowls Investeth it; and, when the heavens are blue, In Spring, which moves the unawakened forest, That which from thee they should implore. The weak Alone kneel to thee, offering up the hearts The strong have broken:-yet where shall any seek A garment, whom thou clothest not? HER hair was brown; her sphered eyes were brown, Yet, when the spirit flashed beneath, there came Marlow', 1817. III. OTHO. 1817. THOU wert not, Cassius, and thou couldst not be, Rests the full splendour of his sacred fame; 'Twill wrong thee not: thou wouldst, if thou couldst feel, Abjure such envious fame. Great Otho died Like thee: he sanctified his country's steel, At once the tyrant and tyrannicide, In his own blood. A deed it was to wring Tears from all men-though full of gentle pride, Dark is the realm of grief: but human things IV. TO MARY SHELLEY. O MARY dear, that you were here! Singing love to its lone mate In the ivy bower disconsolate, Mary dear, come to me soon! I am not well whilst thou art far. As twilight to the western star, O Mary dear, that you were here! Este, September 1818. V. THE WOODMAN AND THE NIGHTINGALE. A WOODMAN, whose rough heart was out of tune (I think such hearts yet never came to good), Hated to hear, under the stars or moon, One nightingale in an interfluous wood Satiate the hungry dark with melody. And as a vale is watered by a flood, Or as the moonlight fills the open sky Struggling with darkness-as a tuberose Peoples some Indian dell with scents which lie Like clouds above the flower from which they rose The singing of that happy nightingale In this sweet forest, from the golden close Of evening till the star of dawn may fail, Heard her within their slumbers; the abyss And every beast stretched in its rugged cave, Which is its cradle (ever from below Aspiring, like one who loves too fair, too far, To be consumed within the purest glow Of one serene and unapproached star, As if it were a lamp of earthly light,Unconscious, as some human lovers are, Itself how low, how high beyond all height The heaven where it would perish), and every form That worshiped in the temple of the night, Was awed into delight, and by the charm Girt as with an interminable zone; Whilst that sweet bird, whose music was a storm Of sound, shook forth the dull oblivion Out of their dreams. Harmony became love In every soul but one. And so this man returned with axe and saw Was each a Wood-nymph, and kept ever green Singing the winds to sleep, or weeping oft |