940 Circling about her waist, and striving how Will shade us with their wings. Those fitful sighs 'Tis almost death to hear: O let me pour A dewy balm upon them!-fear no more, Sweet Arethusa! Dian's self must feel 945 In amorous rillets down her shrinking 985 Sometime these very pangs. Dear maiden, Away, away, or I shall dearly rue My very thoughts: in mercy then away, Kindest Alpheus, for should I obey 960 My own dear will, 'twould be a deadly bane. O, Oread-Queen!1 would that thou hadst a pain Like this of mine, then would I fearless turn And be a criminal. Alas, I burn, I shudder-gentle river, get thee hence. 965 Alpheus! thou enchanter! every sense Of mine was once made perfect in these woods. Fresh breezes, bowery lawns, and innocent floods, Ripe fruits, and lonely couch, contentment gave; But ever since I heedlessly did lave 970 In thy deceitful stream, a panting glow Grew strong within me: wherefore serve me so, And call it love? Alas, 'twas cruelty. Not once more did I close my happy eye Amid the thrush's song. Away! avaunt! 975 O'twas a cruel thing."-"Now thou dost taunt So softly, Arethusa, that I think If thou wast playing on my shady brink, Thou wouldst bathe once again. Innocent maid! Stifle thine heart no more; nor be afraid 980 Of angry powers: there are deities 1 Diana. The Oreads were nymphs of mountains and hills. Of mealy sweets, which myriads of bees Buzz from their honied wings: and thou shouldst please Thyself to choose the richest, where we might Be incense-pillow'd every summer night. 1000 Doff all sad fears, thou white deliciousness, And let us be thus comforted; unless 1005 Thou couldst rejoice to see my hopeless stream Hurry distracted from Sol's temperate beam, And pour to death along some hungry sands." What can I do, Alpheus? Dian stands A huntress free in"-At this, sudden fell dell. 1010 The Latmian listen'd, but he heard no more, Save echo, faint repeating o'er and o'er urge Thee, gentle Goddess of my pilgrimage, 1015 By our eternal hopes, to soothe, to assuage, If thou art powerful, these lovers' pains; And make them happy in some happy plains." He turn'd-there was a whelming sound -he stept, There was a cooler light; and so he kept 1020 Towards it by a sandy path, and lo! More suddenly than doth a moment go, The visions of the earth were gone and fled He saw the giant sea above his head. Are then regalities all gilded masks? Can make a ladder of the eternal wind, 30 A thousand Powers keep religious state, 40 As bees gorge full their cells. And, by the feud 45 "Twixt Nothing and Creation, I here swear, She unobserved steals unto her throne, As if she had not pomp subservient; As if thine eye, high Poet! was not bent Towards her with the Muses in thine heart; 50 As if the minist 'ring stars kept not apart, Waiting for silver-footed messages. O Moon! the oldest shades 'mong oldest Of love-spangles, just off yon cape of trees, Dancing upon the waves, as if to please 85. The curly foam with amorous influence. O, not so idle: for down-glancing thence 90 Their savage eyes with unaccustom'd lightning. Where will the splendor be content to reach? O Love! how potent has thou been to teach Strange journeyings! Wherever beauty dwells, In gulf or aerie,1 mountains or deep dells, 125 95 In light, in gloom, in star or blazing sun, Thou pointest out the way, and straight 'tis won. Amid his toil thou gav'st Leander breath;2 Thou leddest Orpheus through the gleams of death;3 Thou madest Pluto bear thin element;* 100 And now, O winged Chieftain! thou hast sent A moon-beam to the deep, deep waterworld, To find Endymion. On gold sand impearl'd With lily shells, and pebbles milky white, Poor Cynthia greeted him, and sooth'd her light Above, around, and at his feet; save things More dead than Morpheus' imaginings: Old rusted anchors, helmets, breastplates large Of gone sea-warriors; brazen beaks1 and targe;2 Rudders that for a hundred years had lost The sway of human hand; gold vase em- With long-forgotten story, and wherein 130 Writ in the tongue of heaven, by those souls 135 105 Against his pallid face: he felt the charm To breathlessness, and suddenly a warm Of his heart's blood: 'twas very sweet; 140 he stay'd His wandering steps, and half-entranced Till thou hadst cool'd their cheeks deli- 185 Pardon me, airy planet, that I prize ciously: No tumbling water ever spake romance, 150 But when my eyes with thine thereon could dance; No woods were green enough, no bower divine, Until thou liftedst up thine eyelids fine: In sowing time ne'er would I dibble1 take, Or drop a seed, till thou wast wide awake; 155 And, in the summer tide of blossoming, No one but thee hath heard me blithely sing And mesh my dewy flowers all the night. No melody was like a passing spright If it went not to solemnize thy reign. 160 Yes, in my boyhood, every joy and pain By thee were fashion'd to the self-same end; And as I grew in years, still didst thou blend With all my ardors: thou wast the deep glen; Thou wast the mountain-top-the sage's One thought beyond thine argent1 lux uries! An old man sitting calm and peacefully.2 And, ample as the largest winding-sheet, O'erwrought with symbols by the deepest groans Of ambitious magic: every ocean-form 200 Was woven in with black distinctness; Were emblem'd in the woof; with every shape That skims, or dives, or sleeps, 'twixt cape and cape. Thou wast the charm of women, lovely 205 The gulfing whale was like a dot in the 80 How chang'd, how full of ache, how gone in woe! She dies at the thinnest cloud; her loveli ness Is wan on Neptune's blue: yet there's a 115 stress Of love-spangles, just off yon cape of trees, Dancing upon the waves, as if to please 85 The curly foam with amorous influence. O, not so idle: for down-glancing thence 90 Their savage eyes with unaccustom'd lightning. Where will the splendor be content to reach? O Love! how potent has thou been to teach Strange journeyings! Wherever beauty dwells, Mantling the east, by Aurora's peering hand Were lifted from the water's breast, and fann'd Into sweet air; and sober'd morning came Meekly through billows:-when like taperflame Left sudden by a dallying breath of air, He rose in silence, and once more 'gan fare Along his fated way. Far had he roam'd, 120 With nothing save the hollow vast, that foam'd, In gulf or aerie,1 mountains or deep dells, 125 95 In light, in gloom, in star or blazing Above, around, and at his feet; save things More dead than Morpheus' imaginings: Old rusted anchors, helmets, breastplates large Of gone sea-warriors; brazen beaks1 and targe;2 Rudders that for a hundred years had lost The sway of human hand; gold vase em- With long-forgotten story, and wherein 130 Writ in the tongue of heaven, by those souls Who first were on the earth; and sculptures rude In ponderous stone, developing the mood Of ancient Nox;-then skeletons of man, Of beast, behemoth, and leviathan, 135 And elephant, and eagle, and huge jaw Of nameless monster. A cold leaden awe These secrets struck into him; and unless Dian had chased away that heaviness, He might have died: but now, with cheered feel, 140 He onward kept; wooing these thoughts 145 to steal |