[p.69]
III
THE TOMB
So rest, for ever rest, O princely Pair!
In your high church, 'mid the still mountain-air,
Where horn, and hound, and vassals never come.
Only the blessed Saints are smiling dumb,
5From the rich painted windows of the nave,
°[6]On aisle, and transept,° and your marble grave;
Where thou, young Prince! shalt never more arise
From the fringed mattress where thy Duchess lies,
On autumn-mornings, when the bugle sounds,
10And ride across the drawbridge with thy hounds
To hunt the boar in the crisp woods till eve;
And thou, O Princess! shalt no more receive,
Thou and thy ladies, in the hall of state,
The jaded hunters with their bloody freight,
15Coming benighted to the castle-gate.
So sleep, for ever sleep, O marble Pair!
Or, if ye wake, let it be then, when fair
On the carved western front a flood of light
Streams from the setting sun, and colours bright
20Prophets, transfigured Saints, and Martyrs brave,
In the vast western window of the nave,
And on the pavement round the Tomb there glints
A chequer-work of glowing sapphire-tints,
And amethyst, and ruby—then unclose
25Your eyelids on the stone where ye repose,
And from your broider'd pillows lift your heads,
And rise upon your cold white marble beds;
[p.70] And, looking down on the warm rosy tints,
Which chequer, at your feet, the illumined flints,
30Say: What is this? we are in bliss—forgiven—
Behold the pavement of the courts of Heaven!
Or let it be on autumn nights, when rain
Doth rustlingly above your heads complain
On the smooth leaden roof, and on the walls
35Shedding her pensive light at intervals
The moon through the clere-story windows shines,
And the wind washes through the mountain-pines.
Then, gazing up 'mid the dim pillars high,
°[39]The foliaged marble forest° where ye lie,
40Hush, ye will say, it is eternity!
This is the glimmering verge of Heaven, and these
The columns of the heavenly palaces!
And, in the sweeping of the wind, your ear
The passage of the Angels' wings will hear,
°[45]And on the lichen-crusted leads° above
The rustle of the eternal rain of love.
[REQUIESCAT][°]
Strew on her roses, roses,
And never a spray of yew!
In quiet she reposes;
Ah, would that I did too!
5Her mirth the world required;
She bathed it in smiles of glee.
But her heart was tired, tired,
And now they let her be.
[p.71] Her life was turning, turning,
10 In mazes of heat and sound.
But for peace her soul was yearning,
And now peace laps her round.
°[13]Her cabin'd,° ample spirit,
It flutter'd and fail'd for breath
15To-night it doth inherit
°[16] The vasty° hall of death.
[CONSOLATION][°]
Mist clogs the sunshine.
Smoky dwarf houses
Hem me round everywhere;
A vague dejection
5Weighs down my soul.
Yet, while I languish,
Everywhere countless
Prospects unroll themselves,
And countless beings
10Pass countless moods.
Far hence, in Asia,
On the smooth convent-roofs,
On the gilt terraces,
°[14]Of holy Lassa,°
15Bright shines the sun.
[p.72] Grey time-worn marbles
°[17]Hold the pure Muses°;
°[18]In their cool gallery,°
°[19]By yellow Tiber,°
20They still look fair.
°[21]Strange unloved uproar°
Shrills round their portal;
°[23]Yet not on Helicon°
Kept they more cloudless
25Their noble calm.
Through sun-proof alleys
In a lone, sand-hemm'd
City of Africa,
A blind, led beggar,
30Age-bow'd, asks alms.
No bolder robber
°[32]Erst° abode ambush'd
Deep in the sandy waste;
No clearer eyesight
35Spied prey afar.
Saharan sand-winds
Sear'd his keen eyeballs;
Spent is the spoil he won.
For him the present
40Holds only pain.
Two young, fair lovers,
Where the warm June-wind,
[p.73] Fresh from the summer fields
Plays fondly round them,
45Stand, tranced in joy.
With sweet, join'd voices,
And with eyes brimming:
°[48]"Ah," they cry, "Destiny,°
Prolong the present!
50Time, stand still here!"
The prompt stern Goddess
Shakes her head, frowning;
Time gives his hour-glass
Its due reversal;
55Their hour is gone.
With weak indulgence
Did the just Goddess
Lengthen their happiness,
She lengthen'd also
60Distress elsewhere.
The hour, whose happy
Unalloy'd moments
I would eternalise,
Ten thousand mourners
65 Well pleased see end.
The bleak, stern hour,
Whose severe moments
I would annihilate,
Is pass'd by others
70In warmth, light, joy.
[p.74] Time, so complain'd of,
Who to no one man
Shows partiality,
Brings round to all men
75Some undimm'd hours.
A [DREAM]
Was it a dream? We sail'd, I thought we sail'd,
Martin and I, down the green Alpine stream,
Border'd, each bank, with pines; the morning sun,
On the wet umbrage of their glossy tops,
5On the red pinings of their forest-floor,
Drew a warm scent abroad; behind the pines
The mountain-skirts, with all their sylvan change
Of bright-leaf'd chestnuts and moss'd walnut-trees
And the frail scarlet-berried ash, began.
10Swiss chalets glitter'd on the dewy slopes,
And from some swarded shelf, high up, there came
Notes of wild pastoral music—over all
Ranged, diamond-bright, the eternal wall of snow.
Upon the mossy rocks at the stream's edge,
15Back'd by the pines, a plank-built cottage stood,
Bright in the sun; the climbing gourd-plant's leaves
Muffled its walls, and on the stone-strewn roof
Lay the warm golden gourds; golden, within,
Under the eaves, peer'd rows of Indian corn.
20We shot beneath the cottage with the stream.
On the brown, rude-carved balcony, two forms
Came forth—Olivia's, Marguerite! and thine.
[p.75] Clad were they both in white, flowers in their breast;
Straw hats bedeck'd their heads, with ribbons blue,
25Which danced, and on their shoulders, fluttering, play'd.
They saw us, they conferred; their bosoms heaved,
And more than mortal impulse fill'd their eyes.
Their lips moved; their white arms, waved eagerly,
Flash'd once, like falling streams; we rose, we gazed.
30One moment, on the rapid's top, our boat
Hung poised—and then the darting river of Life
(Such now, methought, it was), the river of Life,
Loud thundering, bore us by; swift, swift it foam'd,
Black under cliffs it raced, round headlands shone.
35Soon the plank'd cottage by the sun-warm'd pines
Faded—the moss—the rocks; us burning plains,
Bristled with cities, us the sea received.