"Leaves his stamp visibly upon the shore, "And the fair shape waned in the coming light, "Of sunrise, ere it tinge the mountain tops; "That his day's path may end as he began it, "Or the soft note in which his dear lament "So knew I in that light's severe excess More dimly than a day-appearing dream, A light of heaven, whose half-extinguished beam "Through the sick day in which we wake to weep, "Beside my path, as silent as a ghost; "The forest, and as if from some dread war "A moving arch of victory, the vermilion 'And underneath ethereal glory clad The wilderness, and far before her flew The tempest of the splendour, which forbade ་་ "Shadow to fall from leaf and stone; the crew Seemed in that light, like atomies to dance Within a sunbeam;-some upon the new 'Embroidery of flowers, that did enhance The grassy vesture of the desert, played, Forgetful of the chariot's swift advance; * The favourite song, "Stanco di pascolar le peccorelle," is a Brescian national air. "Others stood gazing, till within the shade Of the great mountain its light left them dim; Others outspeeded it; and others made "Circles around it, like the clouds that swim Round the high moon in a bright sea of air; And more did follow, with exulting hymn, 'The chariot and the captives fettered there: But all like bubbles on an eddying flood Fled into the same track at last, and were "Borne onward.—I among the multitude Was swept-me, sweetest flowers delayed not long; Me, not the shadow nor the solitude; "Me, not that falling stream's Lethean song; "The thickest billows of that living storm "Before the chariot had begun to climb "Of him who from the lowest depths of hell, Through every paradise and through all glory, Love led serene, and who returned to tell "The words of hate and care; the wondrous story How all things are transfigured except Love; For deaf as is a sea, which wrath makes hoary, "The world can hear not the sweet notes that move The sphere whose light is melody to loversA wonder worthy of his rhyme-the grove "Grew dense with shadows to its inmost covers, The earth was grey with phantoms, and the air Was peopled with dim forms, as when there hovers "A flock of vampire-bats before the glare Of the tropic sun, bringing, ere evening, Strange night upon some Indian vale;-thus were ་་ "Phantoms diffused around; and some did fling Shadows of shadows, yet unlike themselves, Behind them; some like eaglets on the wing "Were lost in the white day; others like elves Danced in a thousand unimagined shapes Upon the sunny streams and grassy shelves; "And others sate chattering like restless apes On vulgar hands, * * * * Some made a cradle of the ermined capes 'Of kingly mantles; some across the tire Of pontiffs rode, like demons; others played Under the crown which girt with empire "A baby's or an idiot's brow, and made Their nests in it. The old anatomies Sate hatching their bare broods under the shade " Of demon wings, and laughed from their dead eyes To reassume the delegated power, Arrayed in which those worms did monarchize, "Who make this earth their charnel. Others more Humble, like falcons, sate upon the fist "Or like small gnats and flies, as thick as mist "And others, like discoloured flakes of snow "Which they extinguished; and, like tears, they were A veil to those from whose faint lids they rained "Of whence those forms proceeded which thus stained The track in which we moved. After brief space, From every form the beauty slowly waned; "From every firmest limb and fairest face 'Of life. The marble brow of youth was cleft With care; and in those eyes where once hope shone, Desire, like a lioness bereft "Of her last cub, glared ere it died; each one Of that great crowd sent forth incessantly These shadows, numerous as the dead leaves blown "In autumn evening from a poplar tree. Each like himself and like each other were At first; but some distorted seemed to be "Obscure clouds, moulded by the casual air; "As the sun shapes the clouds; thus on the way And form of all; and long before the day "Was old, the joy which waked like heaven's glance The sleepers in the oblivious valley, died; And some grew weary of the ghastly dance, "And fell, as I have fallen, by the way side; Those soonest from whose forms most shadows past, And least of strength and beauty did abide. FROM AN UNFINISHED DRAMA. HE came like a dream in the dawn of life, And for my sake Make answer the while my heart shall break! But heart has a music which Echo's lips, Though tender and true, yet can answer not, And the shadow that moves in the soul's eclipse Can return not the kiss by his now forgot; Sweet lips! he who hath On my desolate path Cast the darkness of absence worse than death! Indian. And if my grief should still be dearer to me Than all the pleasure in the world beside, Why would you lighten it?— Lady. I offer only That which I seek, some human sympathy In this mysterious island. Indian. Oh! my friend, My sister, my beloved! What do I say? My brain is dizzy and I scarce know whether I speak to thee or her. I am to thee only as thou to mine, The passing wind which heals the brow at noon, Lady. Loved! Oh, I love. This word of love is fit for all the world, And that for gentle hearts another name Methinks Would speak of gentler thoughts than the world owns. I have loved. Indian. And thou lovest not? if so Young as thou art thou canst afford to weep. Lady. Oh! would that I could claim exemption From all the bitterness of that sweet name. I loved, I love, and when I love no more Let joys and grief perish, and leave despair The shadow of his presence made my world While the musk-rose leaves, like flakes of crimson snow, Sad prophetess of sorrows not our own. Indian. Your breath is like soft music, your words are The echoes of a voice which on my heart Sleeps like a melody of early days. But as you said Lady. He was so awful, yet So beautiful in mystery and terror, More need that I should be most true and kind, And much more need that there should be found one To share remorse, and scorn and solitude, And all the ills that wait on those who do The tasks of ruin in the world of life. He fled and I have followed him. February, 1822. ON THE MEDUSA OF LEONARDO DA VINCI, IN THE FLORENTINE GALLERY. IT lieth, gazing on the midnight sky, Loveliness like a shadow, from which shrine, Yet it is less the horror than the grace |