Selected Poems (71 page)

Deep in the tide of their warm blood lying,

Scorch’d with the death-thirst, and writhing in vain,

Than the perishing dead who are past all pain.

440

There is something of pride in the perilous hour,

Whate’er be the shape in which death may lower;

For Fame is there to say who bleeds,

And Honour’s eye on daring deeds!

But when all is past, it is humbling to tread

445

O’er the weltering field of the tombless dead,

And see worms of the earth, and fowls of the air,

Beasts of the forest, all gathering there;

All regarding man as their prey,

All rejoicing in his decay.

XVIII

450

There is a temple in ruin stands,

Fashion’d by long forgotten hands;

Two or three columns, and many a stone,

Marble and granite, with grass o’ergrown!

Out upon Time! it will leave no more

455

Of the things to come than the things before!

Out upon Time! who for ever will leave

But enough of the past for the future to grieve

O’er that which hath been, and o’er that which must be:

What we have seen, our sons shall see;

460

Remnants of things that have pass’d away,

Fragments of stone, rear’d by creatures of clay!

XIX

He sate him down at a pillar’s base,

And pass’d his hand athwart his face;

Like one in dreary musing mood,

465

Declining was his attitude;

His head was drooping on his breast,

Fever’d, throbbing, and oppress’d;

And o’er his brow, so downward bent,

Oft his beating fingers went,

470

Hurriedly, as you may see

Your own run over the ivory key,

Ere the measured tone is taken

By the chords you would awaken.

There he sate all heavily,

475

As he heard the night-wind sigh.

Was it the wind, through some hollow stone,

Sent that soft and tender moan?
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He lifted his head, and he look’d on the sea,

But it was unrippled as glass may be;

480

He look’d on the long grass – it waved not a blade;

How was that gentle sound convey’d?

He look’d to the banners – each flag lay still,

So did the leaves on Cithaæron’s hill,

And he felt not a breath come over his cheek;

485

What did that sudden sound bespeak?

He turn’d to the left – is he sure of sight?

There sate a lady, youthful and bright!

XX

He started up with more of fear

Than if an armed foe were near.

490

‘God of my fathers! what is here?

Who art thou, and wherefore sent

So near a hostile armament?’

His trembling hands refused to sign

The cross he deem’d no more divine:

495

He had resumed it in that hour,

But conscience wrung away the power.

He gazed, he saw: he knew the face

Of beauty, and the form of grace;

It was Francesca by his side,

500

The maid who might have been his bride!

The rose was yet upon her cheek,

But mellow’d with a tenderer streak:

Where was the play of her soft lips fled?

Gone was the smile that enliven’d their red.

505

The ocean’s calm within their view,

Beside her eye had less of blue;

But like that cold wave it stood still,

And its glance, though clear, was chill.

Around her form a thin robe twining,

510

Nought conceal’d her bosom shining;

Through the parting of her hair,

Floating darkly downward there,

Her rounded arm show’d white and bare:

And ere yet she made reply,

515

Once she raised her hand on high;

It was so wan, and transparent of hue,

You might have seen the moon shine through.

XXI

‘I come from my rest to him I love best,

That I may be happy, and he may be bless’d.

520

I have pass’d the guards, the gate, the wall;

Sought thee in safety through foes and all.

’Tis said the lion will turn and flee

From a maid in the pride of her purity;

And the Power on high, that can shield the good

525

Thus from the tyrant of the wood,

Hath extended its mercy to guard me as well

From the hands of the leaguering infidel.

I come – and if I come in vain,

Never, oh never, we meet again!

530

Thou hast done a fearful deed

In falling away from thy father’s creed:

But dash that turban to earth, and sign

The sign of the cross, and for ever be mine;

Wring the black drop from thy heart,

535

And to-morrow unites us no more to part.’

’And where should our bridal couch be spread?

In the midst of the dying and the dead?

For to-morrow we give to the slaughter and flame

The sons and the shrines of the Christian name.

540

None, save thou and thine, I’ve sworn,

Shall be left upon the morn:

But thee will I bear to a lovely spot,

Where our hands shall be join’d, and our sorrow forgot.

There thou yet shalt be my bride,

545

When once again I’ve quell’d the pride

Of Venice; and her hated race

Have felt the arm they would debase

Scourge, with a whip of scorpions, those

Whom vice and envy made my foes.’

550

Upon his hand she laid her own —

Light was the touch, but it thrill’d to the bone,

And shot a chillness to his heart,

Which fix’d him beyond the power to start.

Though slight was that grasp so mortal cold,

555

He could not loose him from its hold;

But never did clasp of one so dear

Strike on the pulse with such feeling of fear,

As those thin fingers, long and white,

Froze through his blood by their touch that night.

560

The feverish glow of his brow was gone,

And his heart sank so still that it felt like stone,

As he look’d on the face, and beheld its hue,

So deeply changed from what he knew:

Fair but faint – without the ray

565

Of mind, that made each feature play

Like sparkling waves on a sunny day;

And her motionless lips lay still as death,

And her words came forth without her breath,

And there rose not a heave o’er her bosom’s swell,

570

And there seem’d not a pulse in her veins to dwell.

Though her eye shone out, yet the lids were fix’d,

And the glance that it gave was wild and unmix’d

With aught of change, as the eyes may seem

Of the restless who walk in a troubled dream;

575

Like the figures on arras, that gloomily glare,

Stirr’d by the breath of the wintry air,

So seen by the dying lamp’s fitful light,

Lifeless, but life-like, and awful to sight;

As they seem, through the dimness, about to come down

580

From the shadowy wall where their images frown;

Fearfully flitting to and fro,

As the gusts on the tapestry come and go.

‘If not for love of me be given

Thus much, then, for the love of heaven, –

585

Again I say – that turban tear

From off thy faithless brow, and swear

Thine injured country’s sons to spare,

Or thou art lost; and never shalt see –

Not earth – that’s past – but heaven or me.

590

If this thou dost accord, albeit

A heavy doom ’tis thine to meet,

That doom shall half absolve thy sin,

And mercy’s gate may receive thee within:

But pause one moment more, and take

595

The curse of Him thou didst forsake;

And look once more to heaven, and see

Its love for ever shut from thee.

There is a light cloud by the moon –
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