Of the wreck of the vessel peers out of the sen. With her left hand she grasps it impetuously, With her right she sustains her fair infant. Death, Fear, Love, Beauty, are mixed in the atmosphere; Which trembles and burns with the fervour of dread Around her wild eyes, her bright hand, and her head, Like a meteor of light o'er the waters! her child Is yet smiling, and playing, and murmuring: so smiled The false deep ere the storm. Like a sister and brother The child and the ocean still smile on each other Whilst LOVE'S PHILOSOPHY. THE fountains mingle with the river All things by a law divine See the mountains kiss high heaven, And the moonbeams kiss the sea: THE CLOUD. I. I BRING fresh showers for the thirsting flowers, I bear light shades for the leaves when laid From my wings are shaken the dews that waken When rocked to rest on their mother's breast, I wield the flail of the lashing hail, And whiten the green plains under, II. I sift the snow on the mountains below, And all the night 'tis my pillow white, While I sleep in the arms of the blast. In a cavern under is fettered the thunder, Over earth and ocean with gentle motion, Lured by the love of the genii that move Over the rills, and the crags, and the hills, Wherever he dream, under mountain or stream, The Spirit he loves remains; And I all the while bask in heaven's blue smile, Whilst he is dissolving in rains. III. The sanguine sunrise, with his meteor eyes, Leaps on the back of my sailing rack, When the morning-star shines dead; As on the jag of a mountain crag, Which an earthquake rocks and swings, An eagle alit one moment may sit In the light of its golden wings. And when sunset may breathe, from the lit sea beneath, Its ardours of rest and of love, And the crimson pall of eve may fall From the depth of heaven above, With wings folded I rest, on mine airy nest, IV. That orbed maiden, with white fire laden, Glides glimmering o'er my fleece-like floor, May have broken the woof of my tent's thin roof, And I laugh to see them whirl and flee, Like a swarm of golden bees, When I widen the rent in my wind-built tent, Like strips of the sky fallen through me on high, V. I bind the sun's throne with the burning zone, When the whirlwinds my banner unfurl. Sunbeam-proof, I hang like a roof, The mountains its columns be. The triumphal arch through which I march, With hurricane, fire, and snow, [chair, When the powers of the air are chained to my Is the million-coloured bow; The sphere-fire above its soft colours wove, While the moist earth was laughing below. VI. I am the daughter of earth and water, And the nursling of the sky: 1 pass through the pores of the ocean and shores ; I change, but I cannot die. For after the rain, when with never a stain, The pavilion of heaven is bare, [gleams, And the winds and sunbeams with their convex Build up the blue dome of air, I silently laugh at my own cenotaph, And out of the caverns of rain, [the tomb, Like a child from the womb, like a ghost from I arise and unbuild it again. TO A SKYLARK. I. HAIL to thee, blithe spirit! Bird thou never wert, Pourest thy full heart In profuse strains of unpremeditated art. |