Oft in my waking dreams do I Live o'er again that happy hour, When midway on the mount I lay, Beside the ruin'd tower.
The Moonshine, stealing o'er the scene, Had blended with the lights of Eve; And she was there, my hope, my joy, My own dear Genevieve!
She leant against the armed man, The statue of the armed knight; She stood and listen'd to my lay, Amid the lingering light.
Few sorrows hath she of her own, My hope! my joy! my Genevieve! She loves me best, whene'er I sing
The songs that make her grieve.
I play'd a soft and doleful air, I sang an old and moving story- An old rude song, that suited well That ruin wild and hoary.
She listen'd with a flitting blush, With downcast eyes and modest grace; For well she knew, I could not choose But gaze upon her face.
I told her of the Knight that wore Upon his shield a burning brand; And that for ten long years he woo'd The Lady of the Land.
I told her how he pined: and ah! The deep, the low, the pleading tone With which I sang another's love, Interpreted my own.
She listen'd with a flitting blush, With downcast eyes, and modest grace; And she forgave me, that I gazed Too fondly on her face.
But when I told the cruel scorn
That crazed that bold and lovely Knight, And that he cross'd the mountain woods, Nor rested day nor night;
That sometimes from the savage den,
And sometimes from the darksome shade; And sometimes starting up at once
In green and sunny glade,
There came and look'd him in the face
An angel, beautiful and bright; And that he knew it was a Fiend, This miserable Knight!
And that, unknowing what he did, He leap'd amid a murderous band, And saved from outrage worse than death The Lady of the Land!
And how she wept, and clasp'd his knees; And how she tended him in vain- And ever strove to expiate
The scorn that crazed his brain;
And that she nursed him in a cave; And how his madness went away, When on the yellow forest leaves A dying man he lay :
His dying words-but when I reach'd That tenderest strain of all the ditty, My faltering voice and pausing harp Disturb'd her soul with pity!
All impulses of soul and sense Had thrill'd my guileless Genevieve; The music and the doleful tale, The rich and balmy eve;
And hopes, and fears that kindle hope, An undistinguishable throng, And gentle wishes long subdued, Subdued and cherish'd long!
She wept with pity and delight, She blush'd with love, and virgin shame; And, like the murmur of a dream,
I heard her breathe my name.
Her bosom heaved-she stepp'd aside, As conscious of my look she stepp'd— Then suddenly, with timorous eye She fled to me and wept.
She half enclosed me with her arms, She press'd me with a meek embrace; And bending back her head, look'd up, And gazed upon my face.
'Twas partly Love, and partly Fear, And partly 'twas a bashful art, That I might rather feel, than see, The swelling of her heart.
I calm'd her fears, and she was calm, And told her love with virgin pride; And so I won my Genevieve,
My bright and beauteous bride.
Dear Babe, that sleepest cradled by my side, Whose gentle breathings, heard in this deep calm, Fill up the interspersed vacancies
And momentary pauses of the thought! My babe so beautiful! it thrills my heart With tender gladness, thus to look at thee, And think that thou shalt learn far other lore, And in far other scenes! For I was rear'd In the great city, pent 'mid cloisters dim, And saw nought lovely but the sky and stars. But thou, my babe! shalt wander like a breeze By lakes and sandy shores, beneath the crags Of ancient mountains, and beneath the clouds, Which image in their bulk both lakes and shores And mountain crags: so shalt thou see and hear The lovely shapes and sounds intelligible Of that eternal language, which thy God Utters, who from eternity doth teach Himself in all, and all things in himself. Great universal Teacher! he shall mould Thy spirit, and by giving make it ask.
Therefore, all seasons shall be sweet to thee, Whether the summer clothe the general earth With greenness, or the redbreast sit and sing Betwixt the tufts of snow on the bare branch
Of mossy apple-tree, while the nigh thatch
Smokes in the sun-thaw; whether the eave-drops fall Heard only in the trances of the blast, Or if the secret ministry of frost Shall hang them up in silent icicles,
Quietly shining to the quiet Moon.
THE PHANTOM SHIP AND ITS CREW.
See! see! (I cried) she tacks no more! Hither to work us weal;
Without a breeze, without a tide,
She steadies with upright keel!
The western wave was all a flame, The day was well nigh done,
Almost upon the western wave
Rested the broad bright Sun;
When that strange shape drove suddenly Betwixt us and the Sun.
And straight the Sun was fleck'd with bars (Heaven's Mother send us grace!)
As if through a dungeon grate he peer'd With broad and burning face.
Alas! (thought I, and my heart beat loud) How fast she nears and nears;
Are those her sails that glance in the Sun, Like restless gossameres?
Are those her ribs through which the Sun Did peer, as through a grate;
And is that Woman all her crew?
Is that a Death, and are there two?
Is Death that Woman's mate?
Her lips were red, her looks were free, Her locks were yellow as gold: Her skin was as white as leprosy, The Night-Mare Life-in-Death was she, Who thicks man's blood with cold.
The naked hulk alongside came, And the twain were casting dice;
"The game is done! I've won, I've won!" Quoth she, and whistles thrice.
The Sun's rim dips; the stars rush out: At one stride comes the Dark;
With far-heard whisper, o'er the sea
Off shot the spectre bark.
From The Ancient Mariner.
Pale Roamer through the Night! thou poor Forlorn! Remorse that man on his death-bed possess,
Who in the credulous hour of tenderness Betray'd, then cast thee forth to want and scorn! The world is pitiless: the chaste one's pride, Mimic of virtue, scowls on thy distress: Thy Loves and they, that envied thee, deride: And Vice alone will shelter wretchedness! O! I am sad to think, that there should be Cold-bosom'd lewd ones, who endure to place Foul offerings on the shrine of Misery, And force from famine the caress of Love. May He shed healing on the sore disgrace, He, the great Comforter that rules above!
« ElőzőTovább » |