A SPIRIT PASSED BEFORE ME.

FROM JOB.

I.

A SPIRIT passed before me: I beheld

The face of Immortality unveiled—

Deep Sleep came down on every eye save mine— And there it stood,-all formless-but divine: Along my bones the creeping flesh did quake; And as my damp hair stiffened, thus it spake :

II.

"Is man more just than God? Is man more pure
Than he who deems even Seraphs insecure?
Creatures of clay--vain dwellers in the dust!
The moth survives you, and are ye more just?
Things of a day! you wither ere the night,
Heedless and blind to Wisdom's wasted light!"

POEMS 1814-1816.

POEMS 1814-1816.

FAREWELL! IF EVER FONDEST PRAYER.

I.

FAREWELL! if ever fondest prayer
For other's weal availed on high,
Mine will not all be lost in air,

But waft thy name beyond the sky.
"Twere vain to speak-to weep-to sigh:
Oh! more than tears of blood can tell,
When wrung from Guilt's expiring eye,1
Are in that word-Farewell!-Farewell!

2.

These lips are mute, these eyes are dry;
But in my breast and in my brain,
Awake the pangs that pass not by,

The thought that ne'er shall sleep again.
My soul nor deigns nor dares complain,
Though Grief and Passion there rebel:
I only know we loved in vain-

I only feel-Farewell!-Farewell!

[First published, Corsair, Second Edition, 1814.]

1. [Compare The Corsair, Canto I. stanza xv. lines 480-490.] VOL. III.

WHEN WE TWO PARTED.

I.

WHEN We two parted

In silence and tears,

Half broken-hearted

To sever for years,

Pale grew thy cheek and cold,

Colder thy kiss;

Truly that hour foretold1

Sorrow to this.

2.

The dew of the morning
Sunk chill on my brow-
It felt like the warning
Of what I feel now.
Thy vows are all broken,
And light is thy fame:
I hear thy name spoken,
And share in its shame.

3.iv.

They name thee before me,

A knell to mine ear;

i. Never may I behold

Moment like this.-[MS.]

ii. The damp of the morning

Clung chill on my brow.—[MS. erased.]

iii. Thy vow hath been broken.—[MS.]

Our secret of sorrow

And deep in my soul-
But deed more forbidden,
Our secret lies hidden,

But never forgot.-[Erasures, stanza 3, MS.,