As famished mariners, through strange seas gone,
Gaze on a burning watch-tower-by the light
Of those divinest lineaments. Alone
With thoughts which none could share, from that fair sight I turned in sickness, for a veil shrouded her countenance bright. 45. And neither did I hear the acclamations
Which, from brief silence bursting, filled the air
With her strange name and mine, from all the nations
Which we, they said, in strength had gathered there
From the sleep of bondage; nor the vision fair
Of that bright pageantry beheld ;--but blind
And silent as a breathing corpse did fare,
Leaning upon my friend, till, like a wind
To fevered cheeks, a voice flowed o'er my troubled mind. 46. Like music of some minstrel heavenly-gifted
To one whom fiends enthrall, this voice to me;
Scarce did I wish her veil to be uplifted,
I was so calm and joyous.-I could see
The platform where we stood, the statues three
Which kept their marble watch on that high shrine,
The multitudes, the mountains, and the sea,--
As, when eclipse hath passed, things sudden shine
To men's astonished eyes most clear and crystalline.
47. At first Laone spoke most tremulously:
But soon her voice that calmness which it shed
Gathered, and-"Thou art whom I sought to see,
And thou art our first votary here," she said:
"I had a dear friend once, but he is dead!—
And, of all those on the wide earth who breathe,
Thou dost resemble him alone :- I spread
This veil between us two, that thou beneath
Shouldst image one who may have been long lost in death.
48. "For this wilt thou not henceforth pardon me?
Yes, but those joys which silence well requite
Forbid reply. Why men have chosen me
To be the priestess of this holiest rite
I scarcely know, but that the floods of light
Which flow over the world have borne me hither
To meet thee, long most dear.
Thine hand with mine; and may all comfort wither From both the hearts whose pulse in joy now beats together,
49. "If our own will as others' law we bind,
If the foul worship trampled here we fear,
If as ourselves we cease to love our kind !”
She paused, and pointed upwards. Sculptured there
Three shapes around her ivory throne appear.
One was a giant, like a child asleep
On a loose rock, whose grasp crushed, as it were In dream, sceptres and crowns: and one did keep Its watchful eyes in doubt whether to smile or weep;
50. A woman sitting on the sculptured disk
Of the broad earth, and feeding from one breast
A human babe and a young basilisk;
Her looks were sweet as heaven's when loveliest
In autumn eves :-the third image was dressed
In white wings swift as clouds in winter skies;
Beneath his feet, 'mongst ghastliest forms, repressed Lay Faith, an obscene worm, who sought to rise, While calmly on the sun he turned his diamond eyes.
51. Beside that image then I sate; while she
Stood 'mid the throngs which ever ebbed and flowed, Like light amid the shadows of the sea
Cast from one cloudless star, and on the crowd That touch which none who feels forgets bestowed. And, whilst the sun returned the steadfast gaze Of the great image, as o'er heaven it glode, That rite had place; it ceased when sunset's blaze Burned o'er the isles. All stood in joy and deep amaze
52. When in the silence of all spirits there
Laone's voice was felt, and through the air
Her thrilling gestures spoke, most eloquently fair.
"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!
Farth 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.
4. "My brethren, we are free! The plains and mountains,
The grey sea-shore, the forests, and the fountains,
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
In blended hearts-now holds dominion; The dawn of mind, which, upwards on a pinion Borne swift as sunrise, far illumines space,
And clasps this barren world in its own bright embrace!
5. "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 dreaming.
Never again may blood of bird or beast
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!
6. "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 more
Victory! Victory! Earth's remotest shore,
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!"
53. Ere she had ceased, the mists of night, entwining
Their dim woof, floated o'er the infinite throng.
She, like a spirit through the darkness shining,
In tones whose sweetness silence did prolong
As if to lingering winds they did belong,
Poured forth her inmost soul: a passionate speech
With wild and thrilling pauses woven among,
Which whoso heard was mute, for it could teach
To rapture like her own all listening hearts to reach.
54. Her voice was as a mountain-stream which sweeps
The withered leaves of autumn to the lake,
And in some deep and narrow bay then sleeps
In the shadow of the shores. As dead leaves wake,
Under the wave, in flowers and herbs which make
Those green depths beautiful when skies are blue,
The multitude so moveless did partake
Such living change, and kindling murmurs flew
As o'er that speechless calm delight and wonder grew.
55. Over the plain the throngs were scattered then
In groups around the fires, which from the sea
Even to the gorge of the first mountain-glen
Blazed wide and far. The banquet of the free
Was spread beneath many a dark cypress-tree;
Beneath whose spires which swayed in the red flame
Reclining as they ate, of liberty,
And hope, and justice, and Laone's name,
Earth's children did a woof of happy converse frame.
56. Their feast was such as Earth the general mother
Pours from her fairest bosom, when she smiles
In the embrace of Autumn. To each other
As when some parent fondly reconciles
Her warring children, she their wrath beguiles
With her own sustenance; they relenting weep:-
Such was this festival, which, from their isles
And continents and winds and ocean's deep,
All shapes might throng to share that fly or walk or creep,—
57. Might share in peace and innocence; for gore
Ör poison none this festal did pollute,
But, piled on high, an overflowing store
Of pomegranates and citrons, fairest fruit,
Melons and dates and figs, and many a root
Sweet and sustaining, and bright grapes ere yet
Accursed fire their mild juice could transmute
Into a mortal bane, and brown corn set
In baskets; with pure streams their thirsting lips they wet. 58. Laone had descended from the shrine;
And every deepest look and holiest mind
Fed on her form, though now those tones divine
Were silent, as she passed. She did unwind
Her veil, as with the crowds of her own kind
She mixed. Some impulse made my heart refrain
From seeking her that night; so I reclined
Amidst a group, where on the utmost plain
A festal watchfire burned beside the dusky main.
59. And joyous was our feast; pathetic talk,
And wit, and harmony of choral strains,
While far Orion o'er the waves did walk
That flow among the isles, held us in chains
Of sweet captivity, which none disdains
Who feels but, when his zone grew dim in mist
Which clothes the ocean's bosom, o'er the plains
The multitudes went homeward to their rest,
Which that delightful day with its own shadow blessed.
I. BESIDE the dimness of the glimmering sea,
Weaving swift language from impassioned themes,
With that dear friend I lingered who to me
So late had been restored, beneath the gleams
Of the silver stars,—and ever in soft dreams
Of future love and peace sweet converse lapped
Our willing fancies; till the pallid beams
Of the last watchfire fell, and darkness wrapped
The waves, and each bright chain of floating fire was snapped
2. And till we came even to the city's wall
And the great gate. Then, none knew whence or why,
Disquiet on the multitudes did fall:
And first, one pale and breathless passed us by,
And stared and spoke not; then with piercing cry
A troop of wild-eyed women, by the shrieks
Of their own terror driven,-tumultuously
Hither and thither hurrying with pale cheeks,
Each one from fear unknown a sudden refuge seeks.
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