"Calm art thou as yon sunset! swift and strong As new-fledged Eagles, beautiful and young, That float among the blinding beams of morning; And underneath thy feet writhe Faith, and Folly, Custom, and Hell, and mortal Melancholy- Hark! the Earth starts to hear the mighty warning Of thy voice sublime and holy; Its free spirits here assembled, See thee, feel thee, know thee now :
To thy voice their hearts have trembled, Like ten thousand clouds which flow With one wide wind as it flies! Wisdom! thy irresistible children rise To hail thee, and the elements they chain And their own will to swell the glory of thy train.
"O Spirit vast and deep as Night and Heaven! Mother and soul of all to which is given The light of life, the loveliness of being, Lo! thou dost re-ascend the human heart, Thy throne of power, almighty as thou wert, In dreams of Poets old grown pale by seeing The shade of thee:-now, millions start To feel thy lightnings through them burning: Nature, or God, or Love, or Pleasure, Or Sympathy, the sad tears turning To mutual smiles, a drainless treasure, Descends amidst us;-Scorn and Hate, Revenge and Selfishness, are desolate- A hundred nations swear that there shall be Pity and Peace and Love, among the good and free!
"Eldest of things, divine Equality! Wisdom and Love are but the slaves of thee, The Angels of thy sway, who pour around thee Treasures from all the cells of human thought, And from the Stars, and from the Ocean brought, And the last living heart whose beatings bound thee: The powerful and the wise had sought Thy coming; thou in light descending O'er the wide land which is thine own, Like the spring whose breath is blending All blasts of fragrance into one,
Comest upon the paths of men! Earth bares her general bosom to thy ken, And all her children here in glory meet To feed upon thy smiles, and clasp thy sacred feet.
"My brethren, we are free ! the plains and moun- The grey sea-shore, the forests, and the fountains, tains, Are haunts of happiest dwellers; man and woman, Their common bondage burst, may freely borrow From lawless love a solace for their sorrow! For oft we still must weep, since we are human. A stormy night's serenest morrow, Whose showers are pity's gentle tears, Whose clouds are smiles of those that die Like infants, without hopes or fears, And whose beams are joys that lie
The dawn of mind, which, upwards on a pinion In blended hearts, now holds dominion; Borne, swift as sun-rise, far illumines space, And clasps this barren world in its own bright embrace!
"My brethren, we are free! the fruits are glowing Beneath the stars, and the night-winds are flowing O'er the ripe corn, the birds and beasts are dream- Never again may blood of bird or beast [ing- Stain with its venomous stream a human feast, To the pure skies in accusation steaming; Avenging poisons shall have ceased
To feed disease and fear and madness, The dwellers of the earth and air Shall throng around our steps in gladness, Seeking their food or refuge there.
Our toil from thought all glorious forms shall cull, To make this earth, our home, more beautiful, And Science, and her sister Poesy,
Shall clothe in light the fields and cities of the free!
"Victory, Victory to the prostrate nations! Bear witness, Night, and ye, mute Constellations, Who gaze on us from your crystalline cars! Thoughts have gone forth whose powers can sleep no Victory! Victory! Earth's remotest shore, [more! Regions which groan beneath the Antarctic stars, The green lands cradled in the roar
Of western waves, and wildernesses Peopled and vast, which skirt the oceans Where morning dyes her golden tresses, Shall soon partake our high emotions: Kings shall turn pale! Almighty Fear, The Fiend-God, when our charmed name he hear, Shall fade like shadow from his thousand fanes, While Truth with Joy enthroned o'er his lost empire reigns!"
One moment these were heard and seen-another Past; and the two who stood beneath that night, Each only heard, or saw, or felt, the other; As from the lofty steed she did alight, Cythna (for, from the eyes whose deepest light Of love and sadness made my lips feel pale With influence strange of mournfullest delight, My own sweet Cythna looked) with joy did quail, And felt her strength in tears of human weakness fail.
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 The battle, as I stood before the King [losing 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,
"Have thou and I been borne beyond pursuer, And we are here."-Then, turning to the steed, She pressed the white moon on his front with pure And rose-like lips, and many a fragrant weed From the green ruin plucked, that he might feed ;- But I to a stone seat that Maiden led,
And kissing her fair eyes, said, "Thou hast need Of rest," and I heaped up the courser's bed In a green mossy nook, with mountain flowers dispread.
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