Beating their swords to ploughshares;-in a band LXXVI. And timid lovers who had been so coy, They hardly knew whether they loved or not, Would rise out of their rest, and take sweet joy, To the fulfilment of their inmost thought; And when next day the maiden and the boy Met one another, both, like sinners caught, Blushed at the thing which each believed was done Only in fancy-till the tenth moon shone; LXXVII. And then the Witch would let them take no ill: Friends who, by practice of some envious skill, Were torn apart, a wide wound, mind from mind! She did unite again with visions clear Of deep affection and of truth sincere. LXXVIII. These were the pranks she played among the cities A tale more fit for the weird winter nights, THE WANING MOON. AND like a dying lady, lean and pale, TO THE MOON. ART thou pale for weariness Of climbing heaven and gazing on the earth, Among the stars that have a different birth, – And ever changing, like a joyless eye That finds no object worth its constancy? LOVE'S PHILOSOPHY. I. THE fountains mingle with the river, II. See the mountains kiss high heaven, And the moonbeams kiss the sea: What are all these kissings worth, If thou kiss not me? ARETHUSA. I. ARETHUSA arose From her couch of snows In the Acroceraunian mountains, From cloud and from crag, Shepherding her bright fountains. She leapt down the rocks, With her rainbow locks Streaming among the streams; The downward ravine And gliding and springing She went, ever singing, In murmurs as soft as sleep; The Earth seemed to love her, And Heaven smiled above her, As she lingered towards the deep. II. Then Alpheus bold, On his glacier cold, With his trident the mountains strook ; And opened a chasm In the rocks; -with the spasm All Erymanthus shook. And the black south wind It concealed behind The urns of the silent snow, And earthquake and thunder The bars of the springs below: Of the River-god were III. "Oh, save me! Oh, guide me! And bid the deep hide me, For he grasps me now by the hair!" The loud Ocean heard, To its blue depth stirred, And divided at her prayer; |