To gladden thee; and all I dare to say Is, that I pity thee; that on this day
I've been thy guide; that thou must wander far In other regions, past the scanty bar
To mortal steps, before thou canst be ta'en From every wasting sigh, from every pain, Into the gentle bosom of thy love.
Why it is thus, one knows in heaven above : But, a poor Naiad, I guess not.
I have a ditty for my hollow cell."
Hereat she vanish'd from Endymion's gaze, Who brooded o'er the water in amaze: The dashing fount pour'd on, and where its pool Lay, half-asleep, in grass and rushes cool, Quick waterflies and gnats were sporting still, And fish were dimpling, as if good nor ill Had fallen out that hour. The wanderer, Holding his forehead, to keep off the burr Of smothering fancies, patiently sat down; And, while beneath the evening's sleepy frown Glow-worms began to trim their starry lamps, Thus breathed he to himself: "Whoso encamps To take a fancied city of delight,
O what a wretch is he! and when 't is his, After long toil and travelling, to miss The kernel of his hopes, how more than vile! Yet, for him there's refreshment even in toil : Another city doth he set about,
Free from the smallest pebble-bead of doubt That he will seize on trickling honey-combs : Alas! he finds them dry: and then he foams, And onward to another city speeds.
But this is human life: the war, the deeds, The disappointment, the anxiety,
Imagination's struggles, far and nigh,
All human; bearing in themselves this good, That they are still the air, the subtle food, To make us feel existence, and to show How quiet death is. Where soil is men grow, Whether to weeds or flowers; but for me, There is no depth to strike in: I can see Naught earthly worth my compassing; so stand Upon a misty, jutting head of land- Alone? No, no; and by the Orphean lute, When mad Eurydice is listening to 't, I'd rather stand upon this misty peak, With not a thing to sigh for, or to seek, But the soft shadow of my thrice-seen love, Than be-I care not what. O meekest dove Of heaven! O Cynthia, ten times bright and fair! From thy blue throne, now filling all the air, Glance but one little beam of temper'd light Into my bosom, that the dreadful might And tyranny of love be somewhat scared! Yet do not so, sweet queen; one torment spared, Would give a pang to jealous misery,
Worse than the torment's self: but rather tie Large wings upon my shoulders, and point out My love's far dwelling. Though the playful rout Of Cupids shun thee, too divine art thou, Too keen in beauty, for thy silver prow
Not to have dipp'd in love's most gentle stream.
O be propitious, nor severely deem
My madness impious; for, by all the stars That tend thy bidding, I do think the bars
That kept my spirit in are burst--that I Am sailing with thee through the dizzy sky! How beautiful thou art! The world how deep! How tremulous-dazzlingly the wheels sweep Around their axle! Then these gleaming reins, How lithe! When this thy chariot attains
Its airy goal, haply some bower veils
Those twilight eyes? Those eyes!—my spirit fails; Dear goddess, help! or the wide-gaping air
Will gulf me-help!"-At this, with madden'd stare, And lifted hands, and trembling lips, he stood; Like old Deucalion mountain'd o'er the flood, Or blind Orion hungry for the morn.
And, but from the deep cavern there was borne A voice, he had been froze to senseless stone; Nor sigh of his, nor plaint, nor passion'd moan
Had more been heard. Thus swell'd it forth: "Descend, Young mountaineer! descend where alleys bend
Into the sparry hollows of the world!"
Oft hast thou seen bolts of the thunder hurl'd
As from thy threshold; day by day hast been A little lower than the chilly sheen
Of icy pinnacles, and dipp'dst thine arms
Into the deadening ether that still charms Their marble being: now, as deep profound As those are high, descend! He ne'er is crown'd With immortality, who fears to follow
Where airy voices lead: so through the hollow, The silent mysteries of earth, descend!"
He heard but the last words, nor could contend One moment in reflection: for he fled
Into the fearful deep, to hide his head
From the clear moon, the trees, and coming madness.
'Twas far too strange and wonderful for sadness; Sharpening, by degrees, his appetite
To dive into the deepest. Dark, nor light, The region; nor bright, nor sombre wholly, But mingled up; a gleaming melancholy; A dusky empire and its diadems; One faint eternal eventide of gems.
Ay, millions sparkled on a vein of gold,
Along whose track the prince quick footsteps told, With all its lines abrupt and angular:
Out-shooting sometimes, like a meteor-star, Through a vast antre; then the metal woof,
Like Vulcan's rainbow, with some monstrous roof Curves hugely now, far in the deep abyss,
It seems an angry lightning, and doth hiss Fancy into belief: anon it leads
Through winding passages, where sameness breeds Vexing conceptions of some sudden change; Whether to silver grots, or giant range Of sapphire columns, or fantastic bridge Athwart a flood of crystal. On a ridge Now fareth he, that o'er the vast beneath Towers like an ocean-cliff, and whence he seet A hundred waterfalls, whose voices come But as the murmuring surge. Chilly and numb His bosom grew, when first he, far away, Descried an orbed diamond, set to fray
Old Darkness from his throne: 'twas like the sun Uprisen o'er chaos; and with such a stun Came the amazement, that, absorb'd in it,
He saw not fiercer wonders-past the wit Of any spirit to tell, but one of those
Who, when this planet's sphering time doth close, Will be its high remembrancers: who they? The mighty ones who have made eternal day For Greece and England. While astonishment With deep-drawn sighs was quieting, he went Into a marble gallery, passing through
A mimic temple, so complete and true
Its sacred custom, that he well nigh fear'd To search it inwards; whence far off appear'd, Through a long pillar'd vista, a fair shrine, And, just beyond, on light tiptoe divine, A quiver'd Dian. Stepping awfully,
The youth approach'd; oft turning his veil'd eye Down sidelong aisles, and into niches old: And, when more near against the marble cold He had touch'd his forehead, he began to thread All courts and passages, where silence dead, Roused by his whispering footsteps, murmur'd faint : And long he traversed to and fro, to acquaint Himself with every mystery, and awe; Till, weary, he sat down before the maw
Of a wide outlet, fathomless and dim,
To wild uncertainty and shadows grim..
There, when new wonders ceased to float before,
And thoughts of self came on, how crude and sore The journey homeward to habitual self!
A mad-pursuing of the fog-born elf,
Whose flitting lantern, through rude nettle-brier,
Cheats us into a swamp, into a fire,
Into the bosom of a hated thing.
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