And lighten, through the deep night of thine eyes, The quickening inspiration of thy looks
Into the hearts of heroes
Of her own as dark-eyed Italian daughters
Be then like thine to them!
And God be with the right!
Of Heaven fight* then, and all the fires of earth!
Flash Etna, flash Vesuvius, from the depths
Of hottest Hades! red from all the depths
Flash forth! Let Earth her deepest passion wreak On Earth's oppressors! Let the lower Czar
Come forth, and claim his own, and to the hearths Of his hot Moscow bid illustrious guests.
So many monarchs go to him,† he well
Might come to some; he knows it is not far:
They fought from Heaven; the stars in their courses fought against Sisera." -Judges, v. 20.
+ Quevedo, as he tells his sober tale,
Ask'd, when in hell, to see the royal jail;
Approv'd their method in all other things;
But where, good sir, do you confine your kings?
There- said his guide- the group is full in view.
Indeed-replied the Don-there are but few.
His black interpreter the charge disdain'd-
Few, fellow?-there are all that ever reign'd."
So let him come; like them "paternal,” meet
His children; and on them, his* elder born
And heirs, inheriting this world, and that,
Bestow his choicest blessings, warmest care.
And shall not Italy be Victory?
Shall not the voice of Victory follow thee,
Lady of conquest? Shall not that high word
Fast follow, eagle-winging o'er the Alps,
And echo from the mountains and the shores
Of freed Italia to the mountains, shores,
And hearts of England?
Shall there not soon n? when laurels shall be
With myrtle wreathed, and rose, by fairest hands
For loftiest brows; and then shall — shall not then
Free maidens yield the guerdon of the brave,
And lips like thine - but where? at last reward
Deeds done and vocal thoughts, by looks like thine,
And strains like thine inspired, reward indeed,
With sweetest words, and sweeter things than
words?
*"The Prince of this world."-John xiv. 30.
"The bloom is vanished from my life.
Whatever fortunes wait my future toils,
The beautiful is vanished-and returns not."
"O be not treacherous to thy own power.
Thy heart is rich enough to vivify
Itself."- Wallenstein.
OCEAN and Alps between us!—And I lay
In dreams of her, and felt her at my heart;
With her, and of her; yet not all,* not, even
In the deep dream from which I scarcely woke,
That summer morning, when the balmy breath
Of the dim, dewy garden, redolent
Of her, came o'er me, and-"it was her voice!"
I said, and sought her sweet soft hand, in vain.
"Nec penetrare, et abire in corpus corpore toto." LUCRET. iv. 1091-1114.
And land and sea between us now; and what
Is dark to me as death, or as the chasm
Of the last parting, or a broken heart-
A long, long, lingering lapse between us yet-
To-morrow, and to-morrow, and to-morrow
New morning stars, new moons-no Imogen—
Long days, and lonely nights-days, weeks, and moons,
Pale waning moons, and stars that rise in vain,
To set as she has set upon my heart-
Time, and perhaps eternity, for still
The thought comes o'er me that we meet no more.
But was I born in vain? and have I lived
In vain and did we meet to meet no more?
-Away-afar!—and I remain; and must
It may be but despair. But I must find
Some deeper source of strength within my
There is; and I will sound it yet again.
They say that deep beneath the sea of tears
Sweet waters sleep: there may be some fresh spring,
At least of Lethe, far beneath the mass
Of these dark depths of Marah: I will know.
I cannot bring her back. I cannot now
Be with her; and must bear an exile's lot,
Now, and perhaps for ever.
If e'er again I breathe the blessed air,
The heaven of her sweet presence, it may be
Another clime: those lips - how warmly pressed!-
May breathe for other as I breathe for her;
Those eyes may dwell on him as I on her.
and that, then, must be borne !
Who dares to love her?-Psyche* is of heaven, And not of earth.-Not mine, not made for me.
Some angel loves her, some high son of heaven.
Some spirit sees her, haunts her, watches her;
"But Psyche owns no lord
She walks a goddess from above;
All saw, all praised her, all adored,
But no one ever dared to love."
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