31.
‘And Calumny meanwhile shall feed on us,
As worms devour the dead, and near the throne _3740
And at the altar, most accepted thus
Shall sneers and curses be;—what we have done
None shall dare vouch, though it be truly known;
That record shall remain, when they must pass
Who built their pride on its oblivion; _3745
And fame, in human hope which sculptured was,
Survive the perished scrolls of unenduring brass.
32.
‘The while we two, beloved, must depart,
And Sense and Reason, those enchanters fair,
Whose wand of power is hope, would bid the heart _3750
That gazed beyond the wormy grave despair:
These eyes, these lips, this blood, seems darkly there
To fade in hideous ruin; no calm sleep
Peopling with golden dreams the stagnant air,
Seems our obscure and rotting eyes to steep _3755
In joy;—but senseless death—a ruin dark and deep!
33.
‘These are blind fancies—reason cannot know
What sense can neither feel, nor thought conceive;
There is delusion in the world—and woe,
And fear, and pain—we know not whence we live, _3760
Or why, or how, or what mute Power may give
Their being to each plant, and star, and beast,
Or even these thoughts.—Come near me! I do weave
A chain I cannot break—I am possessed
With thoughts too swift and strong for one lone human breast. _3765
34.
‘Yes, yes—thy kiss is sweet, thy lips are warm—
O! willingly, beloved, would these eyes,
Might they no more drink being from thy form,
Even as to sleep whence we again arise,
Close their faint orbs in death: I fear nor prize _3770
Aught that can now betide, unshared by thee—
Yes, Love when Wisdom fails makes Cythna wise:
Darkness and death, if death be true, must be
Dearer than life and hope, if unenjoyed with thee.
35.
‘Alas, our thoughts flow on with stream, whose waters _3775
Return not to their fountain—Earth and Heaven,
The Ocean and the Sun, the Clouds their daughters,
Winter, and Spring, and Morn, and Noon, and Even,
All that we are or know, is darkly driven
Towards one gulf.—Lo! what a change is come _3780
Since I first spake—but time shall be forgiven,
Though it change all but thee!’—She ceased—night’s gloom
Meanwhile had fallen on earth from the sky’s sunless dome.
36.
Though she had ceased, her countenance uplifted
To Heaven, still spake, with solemn glory bright; _3785
Her dark deep eyes, her lips, whose motions gifted
The air they breathed with love, her locks undight.
‘Fair star of life and love,’ I cried, ‘my soul’s delight,
Why lookest thou on the crystalline skies?
O, that my spirit were yon Heaven of night, _3790
Which gazes on thee with its thousand eyes!’
She turned to me and smiled—that smile was Paradise!
NOTES: _3573 hues of grace edition 1818.
CANTO 10.
1.
Was there a human spirit in the steed,
That thus with his proud voice, ere night was gone,
He broke our linked rest? or do indeed _3795
All living things a common nature own,
And thought erect an universal throne,
Where many shapes one tribute ever bear?
And Earth, their mutual mother, does she groan
To see her sons contend? and makes she bare _3800
Her breast, that all in peace its drainless stores may share?
2.
I have heard friendly sounds from many a tongue
Which was not human—the lone nightingale
Has answered me with her most soothing song,
Out of her ivy bower, when I sate pale _3805
With grief, and sighed beneath; from many a dale
The antelopes who flocked for food have spoken
With happy sounds, and motions, that avail
Like man’s own speech; and such was now the token
Of waning night, whose calm by that proud neigh was broken. _3810