So she strove against her weakness, Tho' at times her spirit sank: Shaped her heart with woman's meekness To all duties of her rank: And a gentle consort made he, And her gentle mind was such That she grew a noble lady, And the people loved her much. But a trouble weigh'd upon her, And perplex'd her, night and morn, With the burthen of an honour Unto which she was not born. Faint she grew, and ever fainter, And she murmur'd, 'Oh, that he And he look'd at her and said, Bore to earth her body, drest THE VOYAGE. I. WE left behind the painted buoy That tosses at the harbour-mouth; And madly danced our hearts with joy, As fast we fleeted to the South : How fresh was every sight and sound On open main or winding shore ! We knew the merry world was round, And we might sail for evermore. II. Warm broke the breeze against the brow, Dry sang the tackle, sang the sail : The Lady's-head upon the prow gale. The broad seas swell'd to meet the keel, And swept behind; so quick the run, We felt the good ship shake and reel, We seem'd to sail into the Sun ! III: How oft we saw the Sun retire, Of twilight slowly downward drawn, As thro' the slumber of the globe Again we dash'd into the dawn! IV. New stars all night above the brim V. The peaky islet shifted shapes, High towns on hills were dimly seen, We past long lines of Northern capes And dewy Northern meadows green. We came to warmer waves, and deep Across the boundless east we drove, Where those long swells of breaker sweep The nutmeg rocks and isles of clove. VI. By peaks that flamed, or, all in shade, Gloom'd the low coast and quivering brine With ashy rains, that spreading made Fantastic plume or sable pine; By sands and steaming flats, and floods Of mighty mouth, we scudded fast, And hills and scarlet-mingled woods Glow'd for a moment as we past. IX. And now we lost her, now she gleam'd Like Virtue firm, like Knowledge fair, For blasts would rise and rave and cease, But whence were those that drove the sail Across the whirlwind's heart of peace, XII. Again to colder climes we came, For still we follow'd where she led : Now mate is blind and captain lame, And half the crew are sick or dead, But, blind or lame or sick or sound, We follow that which flies before: We know the merry world is round, And we may sail for evermore. SIR LAUNCELOT AND A FRAGMENT. LIKE souls that balance joy and pain, In crystal vapour everywhere Like Heavenly Hope she crown'd the And far, in forest-deeps unseen, The topmost elm-tree gather'd green From draughts of balmy air. By grassy capes with fuller sound Above the teeming ground. She seem'd a part of joyous Spring: A FAREWELL-THE BEGGAR MAID-THE EAGLE. Now on some twisted ivy-net, Now by some tinkling rivulet, Her cream-white mule his pastern set: And fleeter now she skimm'd the plains Than she whose elfin prancer springs As she fled fast thro' sun and shade, The rein with dainty finger-tips, A FAREWELL. FLOW down, cold rivulet, to the sea, Thy tribute wave deliver : No more by thee my steps shall be, For ever and for ever. Flow, softly flow, by lawn and lea, A rivulet then a river: No where by thee my steps shall be, For ever and for ever. But here will sigh thine alder tree, And here thine aspen shiver ; And here by thee will hum the bee, For ever and for ever. A thousand suns will stream on thee, A thousand moons will quiver; But not by thee my steps shall be, For ever and for ever. THE BEGGAR MAID. HER arms across her breast she laid; 119 In robe and crown the king stept down, As shines the moon in clouded skies, One her dark hair and lovesome mien. So sweet a face, such angel grace, In all that land had never been: Cophetua sware a royal oath : This beggar maid shall be my queen!' Narrowing in to where they sat assembled Low voluptuous music winding trembled, Wov'n in circles: they that heard it sigh'd, Panted hand-in-hand with faces pale, Swung themselves, and in low tones replied; Till the fountain spouted, showering wide Sleet of diamond-drift and pearly hail; Then the music touch'd the gates and died; Rose again from where it seem'd to fail, Storm'd in orbs of song, a growing gale; Till thronging in and in, to where they waited, As 'twere a hundred-throated nightingale, The strong tempestuous treble throbb'd and palpitated; Ran into its giddiest whirl of sound, III. And then I look'd up toward a mountain tract, That girt the region with high cliff and lawn: I saw that every morning, far withdrawn Beyond the darkness and the cataract, God made Himself an awful rose of dawn, Unheeded and detaching, fold by fold, From those still heights, and, slowly drawing near, A vapour heavy, hueless, formless, cold, Came floating on for many a month and year, And warn'd that madman ere it grew too late: But, as in dreams, I could not. Mine was broken, When that cold vapour touch'd the palace gate, And link'd again. I saw within my head A gray and gap-tooth'd man as lean as death, Who slowly rode across a wither'd heath, And lighted at a ruin'd inn, and said: IV. 'Wrinkled ostler, grim and thin! Here is custom come your way; Take my brute, and lead him in, Stuff his ribs with mouldy hay. 'Bitter barmaid, waning fast! See that sheets are on my bed; What! the flower of life is past : It is long before you wed. 'Slip-shod waiter, lank and sour, At the Dragon on the heath! Let us have a quiet hour, Let us hob-and-nob with Death. 'I am old, but let me drink; That my youth was half divine. When a blanket wraps the day, When the rotten woodland drips, And the leaf is stamp'd in clay. 'Sit thee down, and have no shame, Cheek by jowl, and knee by knee : What care I for any name? What for order or degree? 'Let me screw thee up a peg: Let me loose thy tongue with wine: Callest thou that thing a leg? Which is thinnest ? thine or mine? 'Thou shalt not be saved by works: Thou hast been a sinner too: Unheeded and I thought I would have Ruin'd trunks on wither'd forks, spoken, Empty scarecrows, I and you! |