And they were canopied by the blue sky, So cloudless, clear, and purely beautiful, That God alone was to be seen in Heaven.
A change came o'er the spirit of my dream. The Lady of his love was wed with One Who did not love her better :-in her home, A thousand leagues from his,-her native home, She dwelt, begirt with growing Infancy, Daughters and sons of Beauty,--but behold! Upon her face there was the tint of grief, The settled shadow of an inward strife, And an unquiet drooping of the eye
As if its lid were charged with unshed tears.
What could her grief be?—she had all she loved, And he who had so loved her was not there
To trouble with bad hopes, or evil wish, Or ill-repress'd affliction, her pure thoughts. What could her grief be?—she had loved him not, Nor given him cause to deem himself beloved, Nor could he be a part of that which prey'd Upon her mind-a spectre of the past.
A change came o'er the spirit of my dream, The Wanderer was return'd.—I saw him stand Before an Altar-with a gentle bride;
Her face was fair, but was not that which made The Starlight of his Boyhood;-as he stood Even at the altar, o'er his brow there came The self-same aspect, and the quivering shock That in the antique Oratory shook
His bosom in its solitude; and then- As in that hour-a moment o'er his face The tablet of unutterable thoughts
Was traced, and then it faded as it came,
And he stood calm and quiet, and he spoke The fitting vows, but heard not his own words, And all things reel'd around him; he could see Not that which was, nor that which should have been- But the old mansion, and the accustom'd hall, And the remember'd chambers, and the place, The day, the hour, the sunshine, and the shade, All things pertaining to that place and hour, And her who was his destiny, came back
And thrust themselves between him and the light : What business had they there at such a time?
A change came o'er the spirit of my dream. The Lady of his love;-Oh! she was changed As by the sickness of the soul; her mind Had wander'd from its dwelling, and her eyes They had not their own lustre, but the look Which is not of the earth; she was become The queen of a fantastic realm; her thoughts Were combinations of disjointed things; And forms impalpable and unperceived Of others' sight, familiar were to hers.
And this the world calls frenzy ; but the wise Have a far deeper madness, and the glance Of melancholy is a fearful gift;
What is it but the telescope of truth? Which strips the distance of its fantasies, And brings life near in utter nakedness, Making the cold reality too real!
A change came o'er the spirit of my dream. The Wanderer was alone as heretofore, The beings which surrounded him were gone, Or were at war with him; he was a mark For blight and desolation, compass'd round
With Hatred and Contention; Pain was mix'd In all which was served up to him, until, Like to the Pontic monarch of old days, He fed on poisons, and they had no power,
But were a kind of nutriment; he lived
Through that which had been death to many men, And made him friends of mountains: with the stars
And the quick Spirit of the Universe
He held his dialogues; and they did teach To him the magic of their mysteries; To him the book of Night was open'd wide, And voices from the deep abyss reveal'd A marvel and a secret-Be it so.
My dream was past; it had no further change. It was of a strange order, that the doom
Of these two creatures should be thus traced out Almost like a reality-the one
To end in madness-both in misery.
(CHILDE HAROLD, Canto iv. Stanzas 134-137.)
AND if my voice break forth, 'tis not that now I shrink from what is suffer'd let him speak Who hath beheld decline upon my brow, Or seen my mind's convulsion leave it weak; But in this page a record will I seek.
Not in the air shall these my words disperse, Though I be ashes; a far hour shall wreak The deep prophetic fulness of this verse,
And pile on human heads the mountain of my curse!
That curse shall be Forgiveness.-Have I not— Hear me, my mother Earth! behold it, Heaven !— Have I not had to wrestle with my lot? Have I not suffer'd things to be forgiven?
Have I not had my brain sear'd, my heart riven, Hopes sapp'd, name blighted, Life's life lied away? And only not to desperation driven,
Because not altogether of such clay
As rots into the souls of those whom I survey.
From mighty wrongs to petty perfidy
Have I not seen what human things could do? From the loud roar of foaming calumny
To the small whisper of the as paltry few,
And subtler venom of the reptile crew, The Janus glance of whose significant eye, Learning to lie with silence, would seem true, And without utterance, save the shrug or sigh, Deal round to happy fools its speechless obloquy.
But I have lived, and have not lived in vain : My mind may lose its force, my blood its fire, And my frame perish even in conquering pain; But there is that within me which shall tire Torture and Time, and breathe when I expire; Something unearthly, which they deem not of, Like the remember'd tone of a mute lyre, Shall on their soften'd spirits sink, and move In hearts all rocky now the late remorse of love.
(CHILDE HAROLD, Canto iv. Stanzas 175-184.)
My Pilgrim's shrine is won,
And he and I must part,- -so let it be ! His task and mine alike are nearly done; Yet once more let us look upon the sea. The midland ocean breaks on him and me, And from the Alban Mount we now behold Our friend of youth, that ocean, which when we Beheld it last by Calpe's rock unfold
Those waves, we follow'd on till the dark Euxine roll'd
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