The waves, the fountains, and the hush of night These were his voice; and well I understood His smile divine when the calm sea was bright And to the shore I went to muse With silent stars, and Heaven was breath A cloud of deepest shadow which was thrown Athwart the glowing steps and the crystalline throne. LVII The cloud which rested on that cone of flame Was cloven beneath the planet sate a Form Fairer than tongue can speak or thought may frame, The radiance of whose limbs roselike and warm Flowed forth, and did with softest light inform The shadowy dome, the sculptures, and the state Of those assembled shapes-with Sinking upon their hearts and mine. Majestic yet most mild-calm yet compassionate. His eyes were dark and deep, and the clear brow Which shadowed them was like the morning sky, The cloudless Heaven of Spring, when in their flow Through the bright air the soft winds as they blow Wake the green world: his gestures did obey The oracular mind that made his features glow, And, where his curvèd lips half-open lay, Passion's divinest stream had made impetuous way. LX Beneath the darkness of his outspread hair He stood thus beautiful: but there was One Who sate beside him like his shadow there, And held his hand-far lovelier she was known To be thus fair by the few lines alone Which through her floating locks and gathered cloak, Glances of soul-dissolving glory, shone : None else beheld her eyes-in him they woke Memories which found a tongue as thus he silence broke. CANTO II I THE starlight smile of children, the sweet looks Of women, the fair breast from which I fed, The murmur of the unreposing brooks, And the green light which, shifting overhead, IV The land in which I lived by a fell bane Was withered up. Tyrants dwelt side by side, And stabled in our homes-until the chain Stifled the captive's cry, and to abide That blasting curse men had no shame all vied In evil, slave and despot; fear with lust Strange fellowship through mutual hate had tied, Like two dark serpents tangled in the dust, Which on the paths of men their mingling poison thrust. V Earth, our bright home, its mountains and its waters, And the ethereal shapes which are suspended Over its green expanse, and those fair daughters, The clouds, of Sun and Ocean, who have blended The colours of the air since first extended It cradled the young world, none wandered forth To see or feel: a darkness had descended On every heart: the light which shows its worth Must among gentle thoughts and fearless take its birth. VI This vital world, this home of happy spirits, Was as a dungeon to my blasted kind. All that despair from murdered hope inherits They sought, and, in their helpless misery blind, |