"Like this harsh world in which I wake" Of the deep cavern, and with palms to weep, I know not. I arose, and for a space The scene of woods and waters seemed to keep, "Though it was now broad day, a gentle trace Of light diviner than the common sun Sheds on the common earth, and all the place so tender, Their tread broke not the mirror of its billow, Glided along the river, and did bend her "Head under the dark boughs, till like a willow, Her fair hair swept the bosom of the stream "Was filled with magic sounds woven That whispered with delight to be its into one pillow. "As one enamoured is upborne in dream O'er lily-paven lakes 'mid silver mist, “And, as I looked, the bright omni- To wondrous music, so this shape might presence Of morning through the orient cavern flowed, And the sun's image radiantly intense "Burned on the waters of the well that glowed Like gold, and threaded all the forest's maze With winding paths of emerald fire; there stood "Amid the sun, as he amid the blaze Of his own glory, on the vibrating Floor of the fountain, paved with flashing rays, seem "Partly to tread the waves with feet which kissed The dancing foam; partly to glide along The air which roughened the moist amethyst, "Or the faint morning beams that fell among The trees, or the soft shadows of the trees; And her feet, ever to the ceaseless song "Of leaves, and winds, and waves, and birds, and bees, And falling drops, moved in a measure And as a shut lily stricken by the wand Of dewy morning's vital alchemy, new Yet sweet, as on the summer evening breeze, "Up from the lake a shape of golden dew "More dimly than a day-appearing Round the high moon in a bright sea of "Before the chariot had begun to climb The opposing steep of that mysterious dell, "Shadow to fall from leaf and stone; Behold a wonder worthy of the rhyme the crew Seemed in that light, like atomies to dance The sphere whose light is melody to lovers A wonder worthy of his rhyme.-The grove "Grew dense with shadows to its inmost covers, To reassume the delegated power, Arrayed in which those worms did monarchise, "Who made this earth their charnel. Others more Humble, like falcons, sate upon the fist The earth was gray with phantoms, and Of common men, and round their heads the air did fling did soar; On fairest bosoms and the sunniest hair, Shadows of shadows, yet unlike them- Fell, and were melted by the youthful selves, Behind them; some like eaglets on the wing glow "Which they extinguished; and, like "Were lost in the white day; others A veil to those from whose faint lids like elves Danced in a thousand unimagined shapes Upon the sunny streams and grassy shelves; tears, they were they rained In drops of sorrow. I became aware "Of whence those forms proceeded which thus stained "And others sate chattering like restless The track in which we moved. After "Was old, the joy which waked like Away! the gathering winds will call the darkness soon, And profoundest midnight shroud the serene lights of heaven. Pause not! The time is past! Every voice cries, Away! Tempt not with one last tear thy friend's ungentle mood: Thy lover's eye, so glazed and cold, dares not entreat thy stay: Duty and dereliction guide thee back to solitude. Away, away! to thy sad and silent home; Pour bitter tears on its desolated hearth; Watch the dim shades as like ghosts they go and come, And complicate strange webs of melancholy mirth. The leaves of wasted autumn woods shall float around thine head: The blooms of dewy spring shall gleam beneath thy feet: But thy soul or this world must fade in the frost that binds the dead, |