330

"This common courage which with brutes we share,
"That owes its deadliest efforts to despair,
"Small merit claims-but 'twas my nobler hope
"To teach my few with numbers still to cope;
"Long have I led them-not to vainly bleed :
"No medium now-we perish or succeed!
"So let it be-it irks not me to die;

"But thus to urge them whence they cannot fly.
"My lot hath long had little of my care,
"But chafes my pride thus baffled in the snare:
"Is this my skill? my craft? to set at last

Hope, power, and life, upon a single cast?
"Oh, Fate!-accuse thy folly, not thy fate-
"She may redeem thee still-nor yet too late."

XIV.

Thus with himself communion held he, till
He reach'd the summit of his tower-crown'd hill:
There at the portal paused-for wild and soft
He heard those accents never heard too oft;
Through the high lattice far yet sweet they rung,
And these the notes his bird of beauty sung!

1.

"Deep in my soul that tender secret dwells,
Lonely and lost to light for evermore,
Save when to thine my heart responsive swells,

335

340

345

850

Then trembles into silence as before.

2.

"There, in its centre, a sepulchral lamp
Burns the slow flame, eternal---but unseen;
Which not the darkness of despair can damp,
Though vain its ray as it had never been.

3.

$55

"Remember me---Oh! pass not thou my grave Without one thought whose relics there recline : The only pang my bosom dare not brave,

66

Must be to find forgetfulness in thine.

4.

My fondest---faintest---latest---accents hear: Grief for the dead not Virtue can reprove; Then give me all I ever ask'd---a tear,

The first---last---sole reward of so much love!"

He pass'd the portal---cross'd the corridore,
And reach'd the chamber as the strain gave o'er:

46

My own Medora! sure thy song is sad-"

"In Conrad's absence wouldst thou have it glad? "Without thine ear to listen to my lay,

360

365

"Still must my song my thoughts, my soul betray: 370 "Still must each accent to my bosom suit, “My heart unhush'd---although my lips were mute! "Oh! many a night on this lone couch reclined,

My dreaming fear with storms hath wing'd the wind,

VOL. II.

"And deem'd the breath that faintly fann'd thy sail "The murmuring prelude of the ruder gale; 375 "Though soft, it seem'd the low prophetic dirge, “That mourn'd thee floating on the savage surge: "Still would I rise to rouse the beacon fire, "Lest spies less true should let the blaze expire; 380 “And many a restless hour outwatch'd each star, "And morning came---and still thou wert afar. "Oh! how the chill blast on my bosom blew, "And day broke dreary on my troubled view, "And still I gazed and gazed---and not a prow "Was granted to my tears---my truth---my vow! "At length---'twas noon---I hail'd and blest the mast "That met my sight---it near'd---Alas! it past! "Another came--

385

---Oh God! 'twas thine at last!,395 "Would that those days were over! wilt thou ne'er, 66 My Conrad! learn the joys of peace to share? "Sure thou hast more than wealth, and many a home "As bright as this invites us not to roam: "Thou know'st it is not peril that I fear,

"I only tremble when thou art not here;
"Then not for mine, but that far dearer life,
"Which flies from love and languishes for strife-
"How strange that heart, to me so tender still,
"Should war with nature and its better will!"

395

399

"Yea, strange indeed-that heart hath long been

" changed;

Worm-like 'twas trampled-adder-like avenged,

"Without one hope on earth beyond thy love,
"And scarce a glimpse of mercy from above.
"Yet the same feeling which thou dost condemn,
"My very love to thee is hate to them,
"So closely mingling here, that disentwined,
"I cease to love thee when I love mankind:
"Yet dread not this-the proof of all the past
"Assures the future that my love will last;
" But—Oh, Medora! nerve thy gentler heart,
"This hour again-but not for long-we part."

"This hour we part!—my heart foreboded this:
"Thus ever fade my fairy dreams of bliss.
"This hour-it cannot be-this hour away!
"Yon bark hath hardly anchor'd in the bay:
"Her consort still is absent, and her crew

"Have need of rest before they toil anew;

405

410

415

My love! thou mock'st my weakness; and would'st

" steel

420

"My breast before the time when it must feel; "But trifle now no more with my distress, "Such mirth hath less of play than bitterness. "Be silent, Conrad!-dearest! come and share "The feast these hands delighted to prepare ; "Light toil! to cull and dress thy frugal fare! "See, I have pluck'd the fruit that promised best, 425 “And were not sure, perplex'd, but pleased, I guess'd

"At such as seem'd the fairest: thrice the hill

My steps have wound to try the coolest rill;

430

"Yes! thy Sherbet to-night will sweetly flow, "See how it sparkles in its vase of snow! "The grapes' gay juice thy bosom never cheers; "Thou more than Moslem when the cup appears: "Think not I mean to chide-for I rejoice "What others deem a penance is thy choice. "But come, the board is spread; our silver lamp 435 "Is trimm'd, and heeds not the Sirocco's damp: "Then shall my handmaids while the time along, "And join with me the dance, or wake the song; “Or my guitar, which still thou lov'st to hear, "Shall soothe or lull-or, should it vex thine ear 440 "We'll turn the tale, by Ariosto told,

"Of fair Olympia loved and left of old. (1)

"Why-thou wert worse than he who broke his vow "To that lost damsel, shouldst thou leave me now; "Or even that traitor chief-I've seen thee smile, 445 "When the clear sky showed Ariadne's Isle,

"Which I have pointed from these cliffs the while : "And thus, half sportive, half in fear, I said,

"Lest Time should raise that doubt to more than

dread,

"Thus Conrad, too, will quit me for the main : 450 "And he deceived me-f -for-he came again!"

"Again-again-and oft again-my love!
"If there be life below, and hope above,
"He will return-but now, the moments bring
"The time of parting with redoubled wing:

455