XX. The smell of violets, hidden in the green, Pour'd back into my empty soul and frame The times when I remember to have been Joyful and free from blame. XXI. And from within me a clear under-tone Thrill'd thro' mine ears in that unblissful clime: "Pass freely thro'! the wood is all thine own, Until the end of time." XXII. At length I saw a lady within call, Stiller than chisell'd marble, standing there; A daughter of the gods, divinely tall, And most divinely fair. XXIII. Her loveliness with shame and with surprise Froze my swift speech; she turning on my face The star-like sorrows of immortal eyes, Spoke slowly in her place. XXIV. 66 I had great beauty: ask thou not my name: No one can be more wise than destiny. Many drew swords and died. Where'er I came I brought calamity." XXV. "No marvel, sovereign lady! in fair field, Myself for such a face had boldly died," I answer'd free, and turning I appeal'd To one that stood beside. XXVI. But she, with sick and scornful looks averse, To her full height her stately stature draws; "My youth," she said, "was blasted with a curse; This woman was the cause. XXVII. "I was cut off from hope in that sad place, Which yet to name my spirit loathes and fears: My father held his hand upon his face; I, blinded with my tears, XXVIII. 66 Still strove to speak: my voice was thick with sighs As in a dream. Dimly I could descry The stern black-bearded kings with wolfish eyes, Waiting to see me die. XXIX. "The tall masts quiver'd as they lay afloat, The temples and the people and the shore; One drew a sharp knife thro' my tender throat Slowly, and nothing more." XXX. Whereto the other with a downward brow: 66 I would the white cold heavy-plunging foam, Whirl'd by the wind, had roll'd me deep below, Her slow full words sank thro' the silence drear, As thunder-drops fall on a sleeping sea: 66 Sudden I heard a voice that cried, Come here, That I may look on thee." XXXII. I turning saw, throned on a flowery rise, One sitting on a crimson scarf unroll'd; A.queen, with swarthy cheeks and bold black eyes, Brow-bound with burning gold. XXXIII. She, flashing forth a haughty smile, began: 66 I govern❜d men by change, and so I sway'd All moods. 'Tis long since I have seen a man. Once, like the moon, I made XXXIV. 66 The ever-shifting currents of the blood I have no men to govern in this wood: That makes my only woe. XXXV. 66 Nay-yet it chafes me that I could not bend One will; nor tame and tutor with mine eye That dull cold-blooded Cæsar. Where is Mark Antony? Prythee, friend. VOL. I. XXXVI. “ The man, my lover, with whom I rode sublime On Fortune's neck: we sat as God by God: The Nilus would have risen before his time And flooded at our nod. XXXVII. "We drank the Lybian Sun to sleep, and lit Lamps which outburn'd Canopus. O my life In Egypt! O the dalliance and the wit, The flattery and the strife, XXXVIII. "And the wild kiss, when fresh from war's alarms, My Hercules, my Roman Antony, My mailed Bacchus leapt into my arms, Contented there to die! XXXIX. "And there he died: and when I heard my name Sigh'd forth with life I would not brook my fear Of the other: with a worm I balk'd his fame. What else was left? look here!' |