LV.

The breath whose might I have invoked in song Descends on me; my spirit's bark is driven Far from the shore, far from the trembling

throng Whose sails were never to the tempest given ; The massy earth and sphered skies are riven ! I am borțe darkly, fearfully afar; Whilst burning through the inmost veil of

Heaven, The soul of Adonais, like a star, Beacons from the abode where the Eternal are.

172

TO NIGHT.

SWIFTLY walk over the western wave,

Spirit of Night!
Out of the misty eastern cave,
Where all the long and lone daylight,
Thou wovest dreams of joy and fear,
Which make thee terrible and dear,-

Swift be thy flight!

Wrap thy form in a mantle gray,

Star-inwrought !
Blind with thine hair the eyes of day,
Kiss her until she be wearied out,
Then wander o'er city, and sea, and land,
Touching all with thine opiate wand-

Come, long-sought !

When I arose and saw the dawn,

I sighed for thee; When light rode high, and the dew was gone, And noon lay heavy on flower and tree, And the weary Day turned to his rest, Lingering like an unloved guest,

I sighed for thee.

Thy brother Death came, and cried,

Wouldst thou me?
Thy sweet child Sleep, the filmy-eyed,

Murmured like a noontide bee,

Shall I nestle near thy side?
Wouldst thou me ?-and I replied,

No, not thee!

Death will come when thou art dead,

Soon, too soon-
Sleep will come when thou art fled;
Of neither would I ask the boon
I ask of thee, beloved Night-
Swift be thine approaching flight,

Come soon, soon!

FROM THE ARABIC.

AN IMITATION.

My faint spirit was sitting in the light

Of thy looks, my love;
It panted for thee like the hind at noon

For the brooks, my love.
Thy barb, whose hoofs outspeed the tempest's flight,

Bore thee far from me;
My heart, for my weak feet were weary soon,

Did companion thee.

Ah! fleeter far than fleetest storm or steed,

Or the death they bear, The heart which tender thought clothes like a dove

With the wings of care ;

a

In the battle, in the darkness, in the need,

Shall mine cling to thee,
Nor claim one smile for all the comfort, love,

It

may bring to thee.

TO E*** V***.

MADONNA, wherefore hast thou sent to me

Sweet-basil and mignonette ?
Embleming love and health, which never yet
In the same wreath might be.

Alas, and they are wet !
Is it with thy kisses or thy tears ?

For never rain or dew

Such fragrance drew
From plant or flower—the very doubt endears

My sadness ever new,
The sighs I breathe, the tears I shed for thee.

TIME.

UNFATHOMABLE Sea! whose waves are years,

Ocean of Time, whose waters of deep woe Are brackish with the salt of human tears !

Thou shoreless flood, which in thy ebb and flow Claspest the limits of mortality!

And sick of prey, yet howling on for more,
Vomitest thy wrecks on its inhospitable shore ;
Treacherous in calm, and terrible in storm,

Who shall put forth on thee,
Unfathomable Sea ?

THE FUGITIVES.

I.

The waters are flashing,
The white hail is dashing,
The lightnings are glancing,
The hoar-spray is dancing-

Away!

The whirlwind is rolling,
The thunder is tolling,
The forest is swinging,
The minster bells ringing-

Come away!

The Earth is like Ocean,
Wreck-strewn and in motion :
Bird, beast, man, and worm,
Have crept out of the storm-

Come away!