Another Orpheus sings agai, O, write no more the tale of Troy, If earth Death's scroll must be! Nor mix with Laian rage the joy Which dawns upon the free: Although a subtler Sphinx renew Riddles of death Thebes never knew. Another Athens shall arise, And to remoter time Bequeath, like sunset to the skies, The splendour of its prime; And leave, if naught so bright may live, Saturn and Love their long repose Shall burst, more bright and good Not gold, not blood, their altar dowers, O cease! must hate and death return? Of bitter prophecy. The world is weary of the past, O might it die or rest at last! TO EDWARD WILLIAMS. I. THE serpent is shut out from paradise. The wounded deer must seek the herb no more The widowed dove must cease to haunt a bower I too must seldom seek again II. Of hatred I am proud, - with scorn content; But, not to speak of love, pity alone Can break a spirit already more than bent. Turns the mind's poison into food, Its medicine is tears, its evil good. III. Therefore, if now I see you seldomer, Dear friends, dear friend! know that I only fly Griefs that should sleep, and hopes that cannot die : The very comfort that they minister I scarce can bear, yet I, So deeply is the arrow gone, Should quickly perish if it were withdrawn. IV. When I return to my cold home, you ask Why I am not as I have ever been. 5 ΙΟ 15 20 25 You spoil me for the task Of acting a forced part in life's dull scene,Of wearing on my brow the idle mask Of author, great or mean, In the world's carnival. I sought Peace thus, and but in you I found it not. V. Full half an hour, to-day, I tried my lot With various flowers, and every one still said, "She loves me - loves me not." And if this meant a vision long since fled If it meant fortune, fame, or peace of thought- To speak what you may know too well: Still there was truth in the sad oracle. VI. The crane o'er seas and forests seeks her home; The sleepless billows on the ocean's breast Break like a bursting heart, and die in foam, 45 And thus at length find rest. Doubtless there is a place of peace Where my weak heart and all its throbs will cease. VII. I asked her, yesterday, if she believed That I had resolution. One who had Would ne'er have thus relieved His heart with words, — but what his judgment bade Would do, and leave the scorner unrelieved. These verses are too sad To send to you, but that I know, Happy yourself, you feel another's woe. 50 55 1821. 40 35 309 SONG. "A WIDOW bird sate mourning for her love Upon a wintry bough; The frozen wind crept on above, The freezing stream below. "There was no leaf upon the forest bare, No flower upon the ground, And little motion in the air Except the mill-wheel's sound." 5 5 ΙΟ 15 Might then have charmed his agony As I another's— my heart bleeds For thine. III. "Sleep, sleep, and with the slumber of The dead and the unborn Forget thy life and love; Forget that thou must wake for ever: Forget the world's dull scorn; Forget lost health, and the divine 20 "The spell is done. How feel you now?" "Better Quite well," replied The sleeper. — “What would do You good when suffering and awake? "What would cure, that would kill me, Jane: And as I must on earth abide Awhile, yet tempt me not to break My chain." 35 -40 1822. 45 |