Page images
PDF
EPUB
[blocks in formation]
[blocks in formation]

95

Of pearl, and thrones radiant with chrysolite.
Nor had that scene of ampler majesty
Than gems or gold, the varying roof of heaven
And the green earth, lost in his heart its
claims

To love and wonder; he would linger long
In lonesome vales, making the wild his home,
Until the doves and squirrels would partake
From his innocuous hand his bloodless food,
Lured by the gentle meaning of his looks, 102
And the wild antelope, that starts whene'er
The dry leaf rustles in the brake, suspend
Her timid steps to gaze upon a form
More graceful than her own.

105

His wandering step, Obedient to high thoughts, has visited The awful ruins of the days of old: Athens, and Tyre, and Balbec,1 and the waste Where stood Jerusalem, the fallen towers 110 Of Babylon, the eternal pyramids,

Memphis and Thebes, and whatsoe'er of strange

Sculptured on alabaster obelisk,

115

Or jasper tomb, or mutilated sphinx,
Dark Æthiopia in her desert hills
Conceals. Among the ruined temples there,
Stupendous columns, and wild images

Of more than man, where marble dæmons watch

The Zodiac's brazen mystery, and dead men Hang their mute thoughts on the mute walls around,

He lingered, poring on memorials

I 20

Of the world's youth, through the long burning day

Gazed on those speechless shapes, nor, when the moon

[blocks in formation]
[blocks in formation]

No voice from some sublimer world hath ever To sage or poet these responses given - 26 Therefore the names of Dæmon, Ghost, and Heaven,

Remain the records of their vain endeavour, Frail spells - whose uttered charm might not avail to sever,

From all we hear and all we see,
Doubt, chance, and mutability.

1 Observe that "shower" is a verb.

30

[merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][ocr errors][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small]
[blocks in formation]

The day becomes more solemn and serene When noon is past there is a harmony In autumn, and a lustre in its sky, 75 Which through the summer is not heard or seen,

As if it could not be, as if it had not been! Thus let thy power, which like the truth Of nature on my passive youth Descended, to my onward life supply

Its calm - to one who worships thee, And every form containing thee, Whom, SPIRIT fair, thy spells did bind To fear himself, and love all human kind.

SONNET OZYMANDIAS

80

[blocks in formation]
[blocks in formation]

Or an air-dissolved star
Mingling light and fragrance, far
From the curved horizon's bound
To the point of heaven's profound,
Fills the overflowing sky;
And the plains that silent lie
Underneath, the leaves unsodden

Where the infant frost has trodden
With his morning-winged feet,
Whose bright print is gleaming yet;
And the red and golden vines,
Piercing with their trellised lines
The rough, dark-skirted wilderness;
The dun and bladed grass no less,
Pointing from this hoary tower
In the windless air; the flower
Glimmering at my feet; the line
Of the olive-sandalled Apennine
In the south dimly islanded;

And the Alps, whose snows are spread
High between the clouds and sun;

[blocks in formation]

And of living things each one;

[blocks in formation]
[blocks in formation]
[blocks in formation]
[blocks in formation]
« PreviousContinue »