XXXV. "Peace Peace!" he cried, "when we are dead, the Day By whom for ye this dread reward was earned, And thrones, which rest on faith in God, nigh overturned. XXXVI. "Think ye, because ye weep, and kneel, and pray, It walks upon the earth to judge his foes, The gates of death, ere they receive the twain XXXVII. "Aye, there is famine in the gulph of hell, Its giant worms of fire for ever yawn,Their lurid eyes are on us! those who fell By the swift shafts of pestilence ere dawn, Are in their jaws! they hunger for the spawn Of Satan, their own brethren, who were sent To make our souls their spoil. See! See! they fawn Like dogs, and they will sleep with luxury spent, When those detested hearts their iron fangs have rent! XXXVIII. "Our God may then lull Pestilence to sleep:Pile high the pyre of expiation now! A forest's spoil of boughs, and on the heap Pour venomous gums, which sullenly and slow, When touched by flame, shall burn, and melt, and flow, A stream of clinging fire, and fix on high A net of iron, and spread forth below A couch of snakes, and scorpions, and the fry Of centipedes and worms, earth's hellish progeny! XXXIX. "Let Laon and Laone on that pyre, Linked tight with burning brass, perish! then pray Of God may be appeased." He ceased, and they The echoes of his voice among them died; Muttering the curses of his speechless pride, Whilst shame, and fear, and awe, the armies did divide. XL. His voice was like a blast that burst the portal Saw gape beneath the chasms of fire immortal, And Heaven above seemed cloven, where, on a throne Before, and with an inward fire possest, They raged like homeless beasts whom burning woods invest. XLI. 'Twas morn-at noon the public crier went forth, Proclaiming thro' the living and the dead, "The Monarch saith, that his great Empire's worth Is set on Laon and Laone's head: He who but one yet living here can lead, Or who the life from both their hearts can wring, The Princess shall espouse, and reign an equal King." XLII. Ere night the pyre was piled, the net of iron Was spread above, the fearful couch below, It overtopped the towers that did environ That spacious square; for Fear is never slow To build the thrones of Hate, her mate and foe, So, she scourged forth the maniac multitude To rear this pyramid-tottering and slow, Plague-stricken, foodless, like lean herds pursued By gad-flies, they have piled the heath, and gums, and wood. XLIII. Night came, a starless and a moonless gloom. Was heard on high the reptiles' hiss and crawl- Of the swift pest with fearful interval, Marking its path with shrieks, among the crowd would fall. XLIV. Morn came, among those sleepless multitudes, Like hunger or disease, with whispers drear [is near!" As "hush! hark! Come they yet? God, God, thine hour XLV. And Priests rushed thro' their ranks, some counterfeiting With their own lies; they said their God was waiting Of human souls:-three hundred furnaces Soon blazed thro' the wide City, where, with speed, God's wrath, and while they burned, knelt round on quivering knees. XLVI. The noontide sun was darkened with that smoke, The deeds which night and fear brought forth, or weigh In balance just the good and evil there? He might man's deep and searchless heart display, And cast a light on those dim labyrinths, where Hope, near imagined chasme ogling with despair. XLVII. 'Tis said, a mother dragged three children then, Looked from their meal, and saw an Angel tread Kill me!" they burned them both with hellish mockery. XLVIII. And, one by one, that night, young maidens came, Canto Eleventh. I. SHE saw me not-she heard me not-alone Upon the mountain's dizzy brink she stood; She spake not, breathed not, moved not-there was thrown Over her look, the shadow of a mood Which only clothes the heart in solitude, A thought of voiceless depth;-she stood alone, Above, the Heavens were spread;-below, the flood Was murmuring in its caves;-the wind had blown Her hair apart, thro' which her eyes and forehead shone. II. A cloud was hanging o'er the western mountains; Before its blue and moveless depth were flying Grey mists poured forth from the unresting fountains Of darkness in the North:-the day was dying:Sudden, the sun shone forth, its beams were lying Like boiling gold on Ocean, strange to see, And on the shattered vapours, which defying The power of light in vain, tossed restlessly In the red Heaven, like wrecks in a tempestuous sea. III. It was a stream of living beams, whose bank Of liquid light, which then did end and fade- IV. I stood beside her, but she saw me not- From common joy; which, with the speechless feeling From her far eyes, a light of deep revealing, V. Her lips were parted, and the measured breath. From her whole frame, an atmosphere which quite Arrayed her in its beams, tremulous and soft and bright |