ΧΙΧ. When on my foes a sudden terror came, And they fled, scattering.-Lo! with reinless speed Comes trampling o'er the dead; the living bleed And fly, as through their ranks, with awful might, XX. And its path made a solitude.-I rose And marked its coming; it relaxed its course Through night, bore accents to mine ear whose force "Mount with me, Laon, now -I rapidly obeyed. XXI. Then "Away! away!" she cried, and stretched her sword And lightly shook the reins.-We spake no word, Over the plain; her dark hair was dispread, As o'er their glimmering forms the steed's broad shadow past; XXII. And his hoofs ground the rocks to fire and dust, Through the desert night we sped, while she alway Of the obscure stars gleamed ;-its rugged breast XXIII. A rocky hill which overhung the Ocean: From that lone ruin, when the steed that panted Of waters, as in spots for ever haunted By the choicest winds of Heaven, which are enchanted That wizard wild, and the far tents implanted Upon the plain, be seen by those who stood Thence marking the dark shore of Ocean's curved flood. XXIV. One moment these were heard and seen-another XXV. And for a space in my embrace she rested, Her head on my unquiet heart reposing, While my faint arms her languid frame invested: At length she looked on me, and half unclosing Her tremulous lips, said: "Friend, thy bands were losing The battle, as I stood before the King In bonds. I burst them then, and swiftly choosing The time, did seize a Tartar's sword, and spring Upon his horse, and swift as on the whirlwind's wing, XXVI. "Have thou and I been borne beyond pursuer, And kissing her fair eyes, said, "Thou hast need In a green mossy nook, with mountain flowers dispread. XXVII. Within that ruin, where a shattered portal When he is gone, a hall stood; o'er whose roof XXVIII. The autumnal winds, as if spell-bound, had made Made music wild and soft that filled the listening air. XXIX. We know not where we go, or what sweet dream XXX. To the pure all things are pure! Oblivion wrapt Of public hope was from our being snapt, XXXI. In silence which doth follow talk that causes The baffled heart to speak with sighs and tears, When wildering passion swalloweth up the pauses Of inexpressive speech :-the youthful years Which we together past, their hopes and fears, The blood itself which ran within our frames, That likeness of the features which endears The thoughts expressed by them, our very names, And all the winged hours which speechless memory claims, XXXII. Had found a voice :-and ere that voice did pass, XXXIII. The Meteor showed the leaves on which we sate, With their own fragrance pale, which spring but half uncloses. XXXIV. The Meteor to its far morass returned: The beating of our veins one interval Made still; and then I felt the blood that burned In union from this earth's obscure and fading sleep. Was it one moment that confounded thus All thought, all sense, all feeling, into one Even from our own cold looks, when we had gone Of tumult and of tenderness? or now Had ages, such as make the moon and sun, XXXVI. I know not. What are kisses whose fire clasps The failing heart in languishment, or limb Twined within limb? or the quick dying gasps Of the life meeting, when the faint eyes swim Through tears of a wide mist, boundless and dim, In one caress? What is the strong control Which leads the heart that dizzy steep to climb, Where far over the world those vapours roll, Which blend two restless frames in one reposing soul? XXXVII. It is the shadow which doth float unseen, But not unfelt, o'er blind mortality, Whose divine darkness fled not from that green And lone recess, where lapt in peace did lie Our linked frames, till, from the changing sky, That night and still another day had fled; And then I saw and felt. The moon was high, And clouds, as of a coming storm, were spread Under its orb,-loud winds were gathering overhead. XXXVIII. Cythna's sweet lips seemed lurid in the moon, Her fairest limbs with the night wind were chill, And her dark tresses were all loosely strewn O'er her pale bosom :-all within was still, And the sweet peace of joy did almost fill The depth of her unfathomable look ;— And we sate calmly, though that rocky hill, The waves contending in its caverns strook, For they foreknew the storm, and the grey ruin shook. XXXIX. There we unheeding sate, in the communion Of interchanged vows, which, with a rite Of faith most sweet and sacred, stamped our union.— Like ours, or celebrate a bridal night With such close sympathies, for they had sprung Of earliest love, delayed and cherished long, Which common hopes and fears made, like a tempest, strong. XL. And such is Nature's law divine, that those Or common slavery mar what else might move But its own kindred leaves clasps while the sunbeams smile; XLI. And clings to them, when darkness may dissever Which bloom on the wide earth-thus we for ever Where knowledge from its secret source enchants Light on the woven boughs which o'er its waves are swinging. XLII. The tones of Cythna's voice like echoes were Of those far murmuring streams; they rose and fell, And so we sate, until our talk befel Of the late ruin, swift and horrible, And how those seeds of hope might yet be sown, Whose fruit is evil's mortal poison: well For us, this ruin made a watch-tower lone, But Cythna's eyes looked faint, and now two days were gone XLIII. Since she had food:-therefore I did awaken Of heart, so deep and dread, that one caress, Till they have told their fill, could scarce express |