Then Greece arose, and to its bards and sages,
In dream, the golden-pinion'd Genii came,
Even where they slept amid the night of ages,
Steeping their hearts in the divinest flame,
Which thy breath kindled, Power of holiest name!
And oft in cycles since, when darkness gave
New weapons to thy foe, their sunlike fame
Upon the combat shone-a light to save,
Thus the dark tale which history doth unfold,
I knew, but not, methinks, as others know,
For they weep not; and Wisdom had unroll'd
The clouds which hide the gulf of mortal woe:
To few can she that warning vision show,
For I loved all things with intense devotion;
So that when Hope's deep source in fullest flow,
Like earthquake did uplift the stagnant ocean
Like Paradise spread forth beyond the shadowy grave. Of human thoughts-mine shook beneath the wide
How, to that vast and peopled city led,
Which was a field of holy warfare then,
I walk'd among the dying and the dead,
And shared in fearless deeds with evil men.
Calm as an angel in the dragon's den-
How I braved death for liberty and truth,
And spurn'd at peace, and power, and fame; and
when
Those hopes had lost the glory of their youth,
How sadly I return'd-might move the hearer's ruth:
Warm tears throng fast! the tale may not be said-
Know then, that when this grief had been subdued,
I was not left, like others, cold and dead;
The Spirit whom I loved in solitude
Sustain'd his child: the tempest-shaken wood,
The waves, the fountains, and the hush of night-
These were his voice, and well I understood
His smile divine, when the calm sea was bright
With silent stars, and Heaven was breathless with
delight.
In lonely glens amid the roar of rivers,
When the dim nights were moonless, have I known
Joys which no tongue can tell; my pale lip quivers
When thought revisits them know thou alone,
That after many wondrous years were flown,
I was awaken'd by a shriek of woe;
And over me a mystic robe was thrown,
By viewless hands, and a bright star did glow
Before my steps the Snake then met his mortal foe.
Thou fearest not then the Serpent on thy heart?
Fear it! she said, with brief and passionate cry,
And spake no more: that silence made me start-
I look'd, and we were sailing pleasantly,
Swift as a cloud between the sea and sky,
Beneath the rising moon seen far away;
Mountains of ice, like sapphire, piled on high,
Hemming the horizon round, in silence lay
On the still waters-these we did approach alway
And swift and swifter grew the vessel's motion,
So that a dizzy trance fell on my brain-
Wild music woke me: we had past the ocean
Which girds the pole, Nature's remotest reign-
And we glode fast o'er a pellucid plain
Of waters, azure with the noon-tide day.
Ethereal mountains shone around-a Fane
Stood in the midst, girt by green isles which lay
On the blue sunny deep, resplendent far away.
It was a Temple, such as mortal hand
Has never built, nor ecstasy, nor dream,
Rear'd in the cities of enchanted land:
'Twas likest Heaven, ere yet day's purple stream
Ebbs o'er the western forest, while the gleam
Of the unrisen moon among the clouds
Is gathering—when with many a golden beam
The thronging constellations rush in crowds,
Paving with fire the sky and the marmoreal floods.
One seat was vacant in the midst, a throne,
Rear'd on a pyramid like sculptured flame,
Distinct with circling steps which rested on
Their own deep fire-soon as the Woman came
Into that hall, she shriek'd the Spirit's name
And fell; and vanish'd slowly from the sight.
Darkness arose from her dissolving frame,
Which gathering, fill'd that dome of woven light,
Blotting its sphered stars with supernatural night.
Earth, our bright home, its mountains and its waters, And the ethereal shapes which are suspended Over its green expanse, and those fair daughters, The clouds, of Sun and Ocean, who have blended The colors of the air since first extended It cradled the young world, none wander'd forth To see or feel: a darkness had descended On every heart: the light which shows its worth, | Must among gentle thoughts and fearless take its birth
This vital world, this home of happy spirits, Was as a dungeon to my blasted kind, All that despair from murder'd hope inherits They sought, and in their helpless misery blind, A deeper prison and heavier chains did find, And stronger tyrants:-a dark gulf before, The realm of a stern Ruler, yawn'd; behind, Terror and Time conflicting drove, and bore On their tempestuous flood the shrieking wretch from shore.
Out of that Ocean's wrecks had Guilt and Woe
Framed a dark dwelling for their homeless thought,|
And, starting at the ghosts which to and fro
Glide o'er its dim and gloomy strand, had brought
The worship thence which they each other taught,
Well might men lothe their life, well might they
Even to the ills again from which they sought Such refuge after death!-well might they learn To gaze on this fair world with hopeless unconcern!
For they all pined in bondage; body and soul, Tyrant and slave, victim and torturer, bent Before one Power, to which supreme control Over their will by their own weakness lent, Made all its many names omnipotent; All symbols of things evil, all divine; And hymns of blood or mockery, which rent The air from all its fanes, did intertwine Imposture's impious toils round each discordant shrine.
I heard, as all have heard, life's various story,
And in no careless heart transcribed the tale;
But, from the sneers of men who had grown hoary
In shame and scorn, from groans of crowds made
pale
By famine, from a mother's desolate wail
O'er her polluted child, from innocent blood
Pour'd on the earth, and brows anxious and pale
With the heart's warfare; did I gather food
To feed my many thoughts-a tameless multitude!
I wander'd through the wrecks of days departed Far by the desolated shore, when even O'er the still sea and jagged islets darted The light of moonrise; in the northern Heaven, Among the clouds near the horizon driven, The mountains lay beneath one planet pale; Around me, broken tombs and columns riven Look'd vast in twilight, and the sorrowing gale Waked in those ruins gray its everlasting wail!
I knew not who had framed these wonders then, Nor had I heard the story of their deeds; But dwellings of a race of mightier men, And monuments of less ungentle creeds Tell their own tale to him who wisely heeds The language which they speak; and now, to me The moonlight making pale the blooming weeds, The bright stars shining in the breathless sea, Interpreted those scrolls of mortal mystery.
Such man has been, and such may yet become!
Ay, wiser, greater, gentler, even than they
Who on the fragments of yon shatter'd dome
Have stamp'd the sign of power-I felt the sway
Of the vast stream of ages bear away
My floating thoughts-my heart beat loud and
Even as a storm let loose beneath the ray Of the still moon, my spirit onward past Beneath Truth's steady beams upon its tumult cast.
It shall be thus no more! too long, too long,
Sons of the glorious dead! have ye lain bound
In darkness and in ruin.-Hope is strong,
Justice and Truth their winged child have found-
Awake! arise! until the mighty sound
Of your career shall scatter in its gust
The thrones of the oppressor, and the ground
Hide the last altar's unregarded dust,
Whose Idol has so long betray'd your impious trust.
XIV.
It must be so-I will arise and waken The multitude, and like a sulphurous hill, Which on a sudden from its snows has shaken The swoon of ages, it shall burst and fill The world with cleansing fire; it must, it will— It may not be restrain'd!--and who shall stand Amid the rocking earthquake stedfast still, But Laon? on high Freedom's desert land A tower whose marble walls the leagued storms withstand!
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