315

wide:

And still they were the same bright, patient stars.

And at the fruits thereof what shapes they Until it ceased; and still he kept them be, Distinct, and visible; symbols divine, Manifestations of that beauteous life Diffused unseen throughout eternal space; Of these new-formed art thou, O brightest child!

Pale wox I, and in vapors hid my face.
Art thou, too, near such doom? vague fear
there is:

For I have seen my sons most unlike Gods.
Divine ye were created, and divine
In sad demeanor, solemn, undisturbed, 330
Unruffled like high Gods, ye lived and
ruled:

Now I behold in you fear, hope, and wrath;
Actions of rage and passion; even as
I see them, on the mortal world beneath,
In men who die. This is the grief, O
Son!

335

Sad sign of ruin, sudden dismay, and fall!
Yet do thou strive; as thou art capable,
As thou canst move about, an evident
God;

And canst oppose to each malignant hour
Ethereal presence:-I am but a voice; 340
My life is but the life of winds and tides;
No more than winds and tides can I
avail:-

Then with a slow incline of his broad breast,

355

Like to a diver in the pearly seas,
Forward he stooped over the airy shore,
And plunged all noiseless into the deep
night.

But thou canst.-Be thou therefore in the WHEN I HAVE FEARS THAT I MAY

The harp that once through Tara's halls We buried him darkly at dead of night, 5