XVI. When Athens' armies fell at Syracuse, Her voice their only ransom from afar: Starts from its belt he rends his captive's chains, And bids him thank the bard for freedom and his strains. Thus, Venice, if no stronger claim were thine, Of Venice think of thine, despite thy watery wall. XVIII. I loved her from my boyhood - she to me Rising like water - columns from the sea, Of joy the sojourn, and of wealth the mart; And Otway, Radclife, Schiller, Shakespear's art, 12 Had stamp'd her image in me, and even so, Although I found her thus, we did not part, Perchance even dearer in her day of woe, Than when she was a boast, a marvel, and a show. XIX. I can repeople with the past and of The present there is still for eye and thought, From thee, fair Venice! have their colours caught: XX. But from their nature will the tannen grow 1.3 mocks The howling tempest, till its height and frame XXI. Ei stence may be borne, and the deep root The camel labours with the heaviest load, XXII. All suffering doth destroy, or is destroy'd, Even by the sufferer; and in each event Ends: Some, with hope replenish'd and rebuoy'd, Return to whence they came with like intent, And weave their web again; some bow'd and bent, Wax gray and ghastly, withering ere their time, And perish with the reed on which they leant; Some seek devotion, toil, war, good or crime, According as their souls were form'd to sink or climb: XXIII. But ever and anon of griefs subdued There comes a token like a scorpion's sting, Scarce seen, but with fresh bitterness imbued; And slight withal may be the things which bring Back on the heart the weight which it would fling Aside for ever: it may be a sound A tone of music, A flower L summer's eve- or spring, the wind- the ocean which shall wound, Striking the electric chain wherewith we are darkly bound; XXIV. And how and why we know not, nor can trace The cold the changed-perchance the dead anew, The mourn'd, the loved, the lost-too many!- yet how few! XXV. But my soul wanders; I demand it back The master-mould of Nature's heavenly hand, |