Till these in horror shrink away From spectre more accursed than they! "How name ye yon lone Caloyer? "It breathes the same dark spirit now, "As death were stamped upon his brow." "'Tis twice three years at summer tide 785 790 795 "Since first among our freres he came; "And here it soothes him to abide 800 "For some dark deed he will not name. "But never at our vesper prayer, "Nor e'er before confession chair "Kneels he, nor recks he when arise 805 "Incense or anthem to the skies, 810 "I'd judge him some stray renegade, "Repentant of the change he made, "Save that he shuns our holy shrine, "Nor tastes the sacred bread and wine. "Great largess to these walls he brought, 815 “And thus our abbot's favour bought; "But were I Prior, not a day "Should brook such stranger's further stay, "Or pent within our penance cell 820 “Should doom him there for aye to dwell. "Much in his visions mutters he "Of maiden 'whelm'd beneath the sea; "Of sabres clashing, foemen flying, 825 "On cliff he hath been known to stand, "Which beckons onward to his grave, "And lures to leap into the wave." Dark and unearthly is the scowl 830 835 For in it lurks that nameless spell And like the bird whose pinions quake, Will others quail beneath his look, 840 Nor 'scape the glance they scarce can brook. 845 From him the half-affrighted Friar When met alone would fain retire, As if that eye and bitter smile Well were it so-such ghastly mirth What once were feelings in that face: 860 Even by the crimes through which it waded: 865 The common crowd but see the gloom A noble soul, and lineage high: Alas! though both bestow'd in vain, 870 Which Grief could change, and Guilt could stain, It was no vulgar tenement To which such lofty gifts were lent, 875 Demands and daunts the stranger's eye; 880 Each ivied arch, and pillar lone, Pleads haughtily for glories gone! "His floating robe around him folding, "Slow sweeps he through the column'd aisle ; "With dread beheld, with gloom beholding "The rites that sanctify the pile. "But when the anthem shakes the choir, "And kneel the monks, his steps retire; By yonder lone and wavering torch "His aspect glares within the porch; "There will he pause till all is done"And hear the prayer, but utter none. 885 890 "See-by the half-illumined wall "That o'er her fearful forehead stray'd: "For he declines the convent oath, 895 "And leaves those locks unhallow'd growth, 900 "But wears our garb in all beside; "And, not from piety but pride, "Gives wealth to walls that never heard "Of his one holy vow nor word. "Lo!-mark ye, as the harmony "Peals louder praises to the sky, "That livid cheek, that stony air 905 "Of mix'd defiance and despair! "Saint Francis, keep him from the shrine! "Else may we dread the wrath divine 910 "Made manifest by awful sign. "If ever evil angel bore "The form of mortal, such he wore: "By all my hope of sins forgiven, "Such looks are not of earth nor heaven!" 915 To love the softest hearts are prone, But such can ne'er be all his own; And sterner hearts alone may feel 920 The wound that time can never heal. |