XVIII.

And they, and all, in one loud symphony My name which Liberty, commingling, lifted "The friend and the preserver of the free! The parent of this joy!" and fair eyes gifted With feelings, caught from one who had uplifted The light of a great spirit, round me shone; And all the shapes of this grand scenery shifted Like restless clouds before the stedfast sun,— Where was that Maid? I ask'd, but it was known of none.

XIX.

Laone was the name her love had chosen,

For she was nameless, and her birth none knew:
Where was Laone now ?-the words were frozen
Within my lips with fear; but to subdue
Such dreadful hope, to my great task was due,
And when at length one brought reply, that she
To-morrow would appear, I then withdrew

To judge what need for that great throng might be,

For now the stars came thick over the twilight sea.

XX.

Yet need was none for rest or food to care,
Even though that multitude was passing great,
Since each one for the other did prepare
All kindly succor-Therefore to the gate
Of the Imperial House, now desolate,

I past, and there was found aghast, alone,
The fallen Tyrant!-silently he sate
Upon the footstool of his golden throne,

XXIV.

XXV.

XXVI.

I led him forth from that which now might seem A gorgeous grave: through portals sculptured deep With imagery beautiful as dream

We went, and left the shades which tend on sleep Over its unregarded gold to keep

Their silent watch.-The child trod faintingly, And as she went, the tears which she did weep Glanced in the starlight; wilder'd seemed she,

"Twas midnight now, the eve of that great day
Whereon the many nations at whose call
The chains of earth like mist melted away,
Decreed to hold a sacred Festival,

A rite to attest the equality of all

Who live. So to their homes, to dream or wake,
All went. The sleepless silence did recall
Laone to my thoughts, with hopes that make

The dawn flow'd forth, and from its purple fountains I drank those hopes which make the spirit quail, As to the plain between the misty mountains And the great City, with a countenance pale I went-it was a sight which might avail To make men weep exulting tears, for whom Now first from human power the reverend veil Was torn, to see Earth from her general womb Pour forth her swarming sons to a fraternal doom:

XXXIX.

To see, far glancing in the misty morning,
The signs of that innumerable host,
To hear one sound of many made, the warning
Of Earth to Heaven from its free children tost,
While the eternal hills, and the sea lost
In wavering light, and starring the blue sky
The city's myriad spires of gold, almost
With human joy made mute society,

Its witnesses with men who must hereafter be.

XL.

To see like some vast island from the Ocean,
The Altar of the Federation rear

Its pile i' the midst; a work, which the devotion
Of millions in one night created there,
Sudden, as when the moonrise makes appear
Strange clouds in the east; a marble pyramid
Distinct with steps: that mighty shape did wear
The light of genius; its still shadow hid
Far ships: to know its height the morning mists forbid

XLI.

To hear the restless multitudes for ever Around the base of that great Altar flow, As on some mountain islet burst and shiver Atlantic waves; and solemnly and slow As the wind bore that tumult to and fro, To feel the dreamlike music, which did swim Like beams through floating clouds on waves below Falling in pauses, from that Altar dim, As silver-sounding tongues breathed an aërial hymn

XLII.

To hear, to see, to live, was on that morn
Lethean joy! so that all those assembled
Cast off their memories of the past outworn;
Two only bosoms with their own life trembled,
And mine was one,-and we had both dissembled;
So with a beating heart I went, and one,

Who having much, covets yet more, resembled ;
A lost and dear possession, which not won,

XLVIII.

"For this wilt thou not henceforth pardon me?
Yes, but those joys which silence will requite
Forbid reply;-why men have chosen me,
To be the Priestess of this holiest rite

I scarcely know, but that the floods of light
Which flow over the world, have borne me hither
To meet thee, long most dear; and now unite
Thine hand with mine, and may all comfort wither

XLIII.

To the great Pyramid I came : its stair
With female quires was throng'd: the loveliest
Among the free, grouped with its sculptures rare;
As I approach'd, the morning's golden mist,
Which now the wonder-stricken breezes kist
With their cold lips, fled, and the summit shone
Like Athos seen from Samothracia, drest
In earliest light by vintagers, and one
Sate there, a female Shape upon an ivory throne.
XLIV.

A Form most like the imagined habitant
Of silver exhalations sprung from dawn,

By winds which feed on sunrise woven, to enchant
The faiths of men: all mortal eyes were drawn,
As famish'd mariners through strange seas gone
Gaze on a burning watch-tower, by the light
Of those divinest lineaments-alone

With thoughts which none could share, from that fair sight

together.

XLIX

If our own will as others' law we bind,
If the foul worship trampled here we fear;
If as ourselves we cease to love our kind!".
She paused and pointed upwards-sculptured there
Three shapes around her ivory throne appear;
One was a Giant, like a child asleep

On a loose rock, whose grasp crush'd, as it were In dream, sceptres and crowns; and one did keep Its watchful eyes in doubt whether to smile or weep;

L.

A Woman sitting on the sculptured disk
Of the broad earth, and feeding from one breast
A human babe and a young basilisk;
Her looks were sweet as Heaven's when loveliest
In Autumn eves:-The third Image was drest
In white wings swift as clouds in winter skies,
Beneath his feet, 'mongst ghastliest forms, represt
Lay Faith, an obscene worm, who sought to rise,

tenance bright.

XLV.

And, neither did I hear the acclamations,

Which from brief silence bursting, fill'd the air
With her strange name and mine, from all the nations
Which we, they said, in strength had gather'd there
From the sleep of bondage; nor the vision fair
Of that bright pageantry beheld, but blind
And silent, as a breathing corpse did fare,
Leaning upon my friend, till like a wind

LI.

Beside that Image then I sate, while she

Stood, 'mid the throngs which ever ebb'd and flow'd
Like light amid the shadows of the sea
Cast from one cloudless star, and on the crowd
That touch which none who feels forgets, bestow'd;
And whilst the sun return'd the stedfast gaze
Of the great Image as o'er Heaven it glode,
That rite had place; it ceased when sunset's blaze

XLVI.

Like music of some minstrel heavenly gifted, To one whom fiends enthral, this voice to me; Scarce did I wish her veil to be uplifted, I was so calm and joyous.-I could see The platform where we stood, the statues three Which kept their marble watch on that high shrine, The multitudes, the mountains, and the sea; As when eclipse hath past, things sudden shine To men's astonish'd eyes most clear and crystalline. XLVII.

At first Laone spoke most tremulously: But soon her voice the calmness which it shed Gather'd, and-"Thou art whom I sought to see, And thou art our first votary here," she said: "I had a dear friend once, but he is dead!And of all those on the wide earth who breathe, Thou dost resemble him alone-I spread This veil between us two, that thou beneath Shouldst image one who may have been long lost in death.

amaze.

When in the silence of all spirits there
Laone's voice was felt, and through the air
Her thrilling gestures spoke, most eloquently fair

1.

Calm art thou as yon sunset! swift and strong As new-fledged Eagles, beautiful and young, That float among the blinding beams of morning; And underneath thy feet writhe Faith, and Folly, Custom, and Hell, and mortal MelancholyHark! the Earth starts to hear the mighty warning Of thy voice sublime and holy;

Its free spirits here assembled,

See thee, feel thee, know thee now,-
To thy voice their hearts have trembled,
Like ten thousand clouds which flow
With one wide wind as it flies!
Wisdom! thy irresistible children rise

To hail thee, and the elements they chain
And their own will to swell the glory of thy train

2.

"O Spirit vast and deep as Night and Heaven!
Mother and soul of all to which is given
The light of life, the loveliness of being,
Lo! thou dost reascend the human heart,
Thy throne of power, almighty as thou wert,
In dreams of Poets old grown pale by seeing
The shade of thee:-now, millions start
To feel thy lightnings through them burning:
Nature, or God, or Love, or Pleasure,
Or Sympathy the sad tears turning
To mutual smiles, a drainless treasure,
Descends amidst us;-Scorn and Hate,
Revenge and Selfishness are desolate-
A hundred nations swear that there shall be

Pity and Peace and Love, among the good and free!

3.

Eldest of things, divine Equality!

Wisdom and Love are but the slaves of thee,
The Angels of thy sway, the poor around thee
Treasures from all the cells of human thought,
And from the Stars, and from the Ocean brought,
And the last living heart whose beatings bound thee:
The powerful and the wise had sought
Thy coming, thou in light descending
O'er the wide land which is thine own
Like the spring whose breath is blending
All blasts of fragrance into one,
Comest upon the paths of men!-
Earth bares her general bosom to thy ken,
And all her children here in glory meet

To feed upon thy smiles, and clasp thy sacred feet.

4.

"My brethren, we are free! the plains and mountains
The gray sea-shore, the forests and the fountains,
Are haunts of happiest dwellers;-man and woman,
Their common bondage burst, may freely borrow
From lawless love a solace for their sorrow;
For oft we still must weep, since we are human.
A stormy night's serenest morrow,
Whose showers are pity's gentle tears,
Whose clouds are smiles of those that die
Like infants without hopes or fears,
And whose beams are joys that lie

In blended hearts, now holds dominion;
The dawn of mind, which upwards on a pinion
Borne, swift as sunrise, far illumines space,
And clasps this barren world in its own bright
embrace!

5.

“My brethren, we are free! the fruits are glowing Beneath the stars, and the night-winds are flowing O'er the ripe corn, the birds and beasts are dreaming

Never again may blood of bird or beast
Stain with its venomous stream a human feast!
To the pure skies in accusation steaming,
Avenging poisons shall have ceased

To feed disease and fear and madness,
The dwellers of the earth and air
Shall throng around our steps with gladness,
Seeking their food or refuge there.

Our toil from thought all glorious forms shall cull,
To make this Earth, our home, more beautiful,

And Science, and her sister Poesy,

Shall clothe in light the fields and cities of the free!

6.

Victory, Victory to the prostrate nations!

Bear witness Night, and ye mute Constellations
Who gaze on us from your crystalline cars!
Thoughts have gone forth whose powers can sleep
no more!

Victory! Victory! Earth's remotest shore,
Regions which groan beneath the Antarctic stars,
The green lands cradled in the roar

Of western waves, and wildernesses
Peopled and vast, which skirt the oceans
Where morning dyes her golden tresses,
Shall soon partake our high emotions:
Kings shall turn pale! Almighty Fear,

The Fiend-God, when our charmed name he hear, Shall fade like shadow from his thousand fanes, While Truth with Joy enthroned o'er his lost emptie reigns!"

LII.

Ere she had ceased, the mists of night entwining Their dim woof, floated o'er the infinite throng; She, like a spirit through the darkness shining, In tones whose sweetness silence did prolong, As if to lingering winds they did belong, Pour'd forth her inmost soul: a passionate speech With wild and thrilling pauses woven among, Which whoso heard, was mute, for it could teach To rapture like her own all listening hearts to reach.

LIII.

Her voice was as a mountain stream which sweeps
The wither'd leaves of Autumn to the lake,
And in some deep and narrow bay then sleeps
In the shadow of the shores; as dead leaves wake
Under the wave, in flowers and herbs which make
Those green depths beautiful when skies are blue
The multitude so moveless did partake

Such living change, and kindling murmurs flew As o'er that speechless calm delight and wonder grew

LIV.

Over the plain the throngs were scatter'd then
In groups around the fires, which from the sea
Even to the gorge of the first mountain glen
Blazed wide and far: the banquet of the free
Was spread beneath many a dark cypress-tree.
Beneath whose spires, which sway'd in the red light
Reclining as they ate, of Liberty,

Earth's children did a woof of happy converse frame
And Hope, and Justice, and Laone's name,

LV.

Their feast was such as Earth, the general mother Pours from her fairest bosom, when she smiles In the embrace of Autumn;-to each other As when some parent fondly reconciles Her warring children, she their wrath beguiles With her own sustenance; they relenting weep Such was this Festival, which from their isles And continents, and winds, and oceans deep, All shapes might throng to share, that fly, or walk,.

or creep.

LVI.

Might share in peace and innocence, for gore
Or poison none this festal did pollute,
But piled on high, an overflowing store
Of pomegranates, and citrons, fairest fruit,
Melons, and dates, and figs, and many a root
Sweet and sustaining, and bright grapes ere yet
Accursed fire their mild juice could transmute
Into a mortal bane, and brown corn set

III.

Then, rallying cries of treason and of danger
Resounded: and-"They come! to arms! to arms
The Tyrant is amongst us, and the stranger
Comes to enslave us in his name! to arms!"
In vain: for Panic, the pale fiend who charms
Strength to forswear her right, those millions swep.
Like waves before the tempest-these alarms
Came to me, as to know their cause I leapt

I wept!

LVII.

Laone had descended from the shrine,

And every deepest look and holiest mind

Fed on her form, though now those tones divine Were silent as she past; she did unwind Her veil, as with the crowds of her own kind She mix'd; some impulse made my heart refrain From seeking her that night, so I reclined Amidst a group, where on the utmost plain A festal watch-fire burn'd beside the dusky main.

LVIII.

And joyous was our feast; pathetic talk, And wit, and harmony of choral strains, While far Orion o'er the waves did walk That flow among the isles, held us in chains Of sweet captivity, which none disdains Who feels: but when his zone grew dim in mist Which clothes the Ocean's bosom, o'er the plains The multitudes went homeward, to their rest, Which that delightful day with its own shadow blest.

CANTO VI.

I.

BESIDE the dimness of the glimmering sea, Weaving swift language from impassion'd themes, With that dear friend I linger'd, who to me So late had been restored, beneath the gleams Of the silver stars; and ever in soft dreams of future love and peace sweet converse lapt Our willing fancies, till the pallid beams Of the last watch-fire fell, and darkness wrapt The waves, and each bright chain of floating fire was snapt.

II.

And till we came even to the City's wall
And the great gate, then, none knew whence or why,
Disquiet on the multitudes did fall:

And first, one pale and breathless past us by,
And stared and spoke not;-then with piercing cry
A troop of wild-eyed women, by the shrieks
Of their own terror driven,-tumultuously
Hither and thither hurrying with pale cheeks,

IV.

For to the North I saw the town on fire,
And its red light made morning pallid now,
Which burst over wide Asia ;-louder, higher,
The yells of victory and the screams of woe
I heard approach, and saw the throng below
Stream through the gates like foam-wrought
water-falls

Fed from a thousand storms-the fearful glow
Of bombs flares overhead-at intervals
The red artillery's bolt mangling among them falls.

V.

And now the horsemen come-and all was done Swifter than I have spoken-I beheld Their red swords flash in the uprisen sun. I rush'd among the rout to have repell'd That miserable flight-one moment quell'd By voice, and looks and eloquent despair, As if reproach from their own hearts withheld Their steps, they stood; but soon came pouring there New multitudes, and did those rallied bands o'erbear

VI.

I strove, as drifted on some cataract

By irresistible streams, some wretch might strive Who hears its fatal roar-the files compact Whelm'd me, and from the gate avail'd to drive With quickening impulse, as each bolt did rive Their ranks with bloodier chasm:-into the plain Disgorged at length the dead and the alive, In one dread mass, were parted, and the stain Of blood from mortal steel fell o'er the fields like rain

VII.

For now the despot's blood-hounds with their prey. Unarm'd and unaware, were gorging deep Their gluttony of death; the loose array Of horsemen o'er the wide fields murdering sweep, And with loud laughter for their tyrant reap A harvest sown with other hopes; the while, Far overhead, ships from Propontis keep A killing rain of fire-when the waves smile As sudden earthquakes light many a volcano isle.

VIII.

Thus sudden, unexpected feast was spread
For the carrion fowls of Heaven.-I saw the sight-
I moved-I lived-as o'er the heaps of dead,
Whose stony eyes glared in the morning light,
I trod-to me there came no thought of flight,
But with loud cries of scorn which whoso heard
That dreaded death, felt in his veins the mignt
Of virtuous shame return, the crowd I stirr'd