CXVII.

Now here, the sighing winds, before unheard,
Forth from their cloudy caves begin to blow,
Till all the surface of the deep is stirr'd,
Like to the panting grief it hides below;
And heav'n is cover'd with a stormy rack,

Soiling the waters with its inky black.

CXVIII.

The screaming fowl resigns her finny prey, And labours shoreward with a bending wing, Rowing against the wind her toilsome way; Meanwhile, the curling billows chafe, and fling Their dewy frost still further on the stones, That answer to the wind with hollow groans.

CXIX.

And here and there a fisher's far-off bark

Flies with the sun's last glimpse upon its sail, Like a bright flame amid the waters dark, Watch'd with the hope and fear of maidens pale; And anxious mothers that upturn their brows, Freighting the gusty wind with frequent vows,

CXX.

For that the horrid deep has no sure track
To guide love safe into his homely haven.
And lo! the storm grows blacker in its wrath,
O'er the dark billow brooding like a raven,
That bodes of death and widow's sorrowing,
Under the dusky covert of his wing.

CXXI.

And so day ended. But no vesper spark
Hung forth its heavenly sign; but sheets of flame

Play'd round the savage features of the dark,
Making night horrible. That night, there came

A weeping maiden to high Sestos' steep,
And tore her hair and gaz'd upon the deep.

CXXII.

And wav'd aloft her bright and ruddy torch, Whose flame the boastful wind so rudely fann'd,

That oft it would recoil, and basely scorch

The tender covert of her sheltering hand;

Which yet, for love's dear sake, disdain'd retire,

And, like a glorying martyr, brav'd the fire.

CXXIII.

For that was love's own sign and beacon guide
Across the Hellespont's wide weary space,
Wherein he nightly struggled with the tide;
Look what a red it forges on her face,
As if she blush'd at holding such a light,
Ev'n in the unseen presence of the night!

CXXIV.

Whereas her tragic cheek is truly pale,

And colder than the rude and ruffian air

That howls into her ear a horrid tale

Of storm, and wreck, and uttermost despair,
Saying, "Leander floats amid the surge,

And those are dismal waves that sing his dirge."

CXXV.

And hark! a grieving voice, trembling and faint, Blends with the hollow sobbings of the sea;

Like the sad music of a siren's plaint,

But shriller than Leander's voice should be,
Unless the wintry death had changed its tone,
Wherefore she thinks she hears his spirit moan.

CXXVI.

For now, upon each brief and breathless pause,

Made by the raging winds, it plainly calls,

On Hero! Hero!

whereupon she draws

Close to the dizzy brink, that ne'er appals
Her brave and constant spirit to recoil,

However the wild billows toss and toil.

CXXVII.

"Oh! dost thou live under the deep deep sea? I thought such love as thine could never die; If thou hast gain'd an immortality,

From the kind pitying sea-god, so will I;

And this false cruel tide that used to sever

Our hearts, shall be our common home for ever!

CXXVIII.

"There we will sit and sport upon one billow,

And sing our ocean ditties all the day,

And lie together on the same green pillow,

That curls above us with its dewy spray;

And ever in one presence live and dwell,
Like two twin pearls within the selfsame shell.

CXXIX.

One moment then, upon the dizzy verge

She stands; with face upturn'd against the sky;

A moment more, upon the foamy surge

She gazes, with a calm despairing eye;

Feeling that awful pause of blood and breath

Which life endures when it confronts with death;

CXXX.

Then from the giddy steep she madly springs,
Grasping her maiden robes, that vainly kept
Panting abroad, like unavailing wings,

To save her from her death. The sea-maid wept,

And in a crystal cave her corse enshrin'd,

No meaner sepulchre should Hero find!