And forth they wander"d, her sire being gone, As I have said, upon an expedition; And mother, brother, guardian, she had none, Save Zoe, who, although with due precision She waited on her lady with the sun, Thought daily service was her only mission, Bringing warm water, wreathing her long tresses, And asking now and then for cast-off dresses.
It was the cooling hour, just when the rounded Red sun sinks down behind the azure hill, Which then seems as if the whole earth it bounded, Circling all nature, hush"d, and dim, and still, With the far mountain-crescent half surrounded On one side, and the deep sea calm and chill Upon the other, and the rosy sky, With one star sparkling through it like an eye.
And thus they wander"d forth, and hand in hand, Over the shining pebbles and the sh.e.l.ls, Glided along the smooth and harden"d sand, And in the worn and wild receptacles Work"d by the storms, yet work"d as it were plann"d, In hollow halls, with sparry roofs and cells, They turn"d to rest; and, each clasp"d by an arm, Yielded to the deep twilight"s purple charm.
They look"d up to the sky, whose floating glow Spread like a rosy ocean, vast and bright; They gazed upon the glittering sea below, Whence the broad moon rose circling into sight; They heard the wave"s splash, and the wind so low, And saw each other"s dark eyes darting light Into each other--and, beholding this, Their lips drew near, and clung into a kiss;
A long, long kiss, a kiss of youth, and love, And beauty, all concentrating like rays Into one focus, kindled from above; Such kisses as belong to early days, Where heart, and soul, and sense, in concert move, And the blood "s lava, and the pulse a blaze, Each kiss a heart-quake,--for a kiss"s strength, I think, it must be reckon"d by its length.
By length I mean duration; theirs endured Heaven knows how long--no doubt they never reckon"d; And if they had, they could not have secured The sum of their sensations to a second: They had not spoken; but they felt allured, As if their souls and lips each other beckon"d, Which, being join"d, like swarming bees they clung-- Their hearts the flowers from whence the honey sprung.
They were alone, but not alone as they Who shut in chambers think it loneliness; The silent ocean, and the starlight bay, The twilight glow which momently grew less, The voiceless sands and dropping caves, that lay Around them, made them to each other press, As if there were no life beneath the sky Save theirs, and that their life could never die.
They fear"d no eyes nor ears on that lone beach, They felt no terrors from the night, they were All in all to each other: though their speech Was broken words, they thought a language there,-- And all the burning tongues the pa.s.sions teach Found in one sigh the best interpreter Of nature"s oracle--first love,--that all Which Eve has left her daughters since her fall.
Haidde spoke not of scruples, ask"d no vows, Nor offer"d any; she had never heard Of plight and promises to be a spouse, Or perils by a loving maid incurr"d; She was all which pure ignorance allows, And flew to her young mate like a young bird; And, never having dreamt of falsehood, she Had not one word to say of constancy.
She loved, and was beloved--she adored, And she was worshipp"d; after nature"s fashion, Their intense souls, into each other pour"d, If souls could die, had perish"d in that pa.s.sion,-- But by degrees their senses were restored, Again to be o"ercome, again to dash on; And, beating "gainst his bosom, Haidee"s heart Felt as if never more to beat apart.
Alas! they were so young, so beautiful, So lonely, loving, helpless, and the hour Was that in which the heart is always full, And, having o"er itself no further power, Prompts deeds eternity can not annul, But pays off moments in an endless shower Of h.e.l.l-fire--all prepared for people giving Pleasure or pain to one another living.
Alas! for Juan and Haidee! they were So loving and so lovely--till then never, Excepting our first parents, such a pair Had run the risk of being d.a.m.n"d for ever; And Haidee, being devout as well as fair, Had, doubtless, heard about the Stygian river, And h.e.l.l and purgatory--but forgot Just in the very crisis she should not.
They look upon each other, and their eyes Gleam in the moonlight; and her white arm clasps Round Juan"s head, and his around her lies Half buried in the tresses which it grasps; She sits upon his knee, and drinks his sighs, He hers, until they end in broken gasps; And thus they form a group that "s quite antique, Half naked, loving, natural, and Greek.
And when those deep and burning moments pa.s.s"d, And Juan sunk to sleep within her arms, She slept not, but all tenderly, though fast, Sustain"d his head upon her bosom"s charms; And now and then her eye to heaven is cast, And then on the pale cheek her breast now warms, Pillow"d on her o"erflowing heart, which pants With all it granted, and with all it grants.
An infant when it gazes on a light, A child the moment when it drains the breast, A devotee when soars the Host in sight, An Arab with a stranger for a guest, A sailor when the prize has struck in fight, A miser filling his most h.o.a.rded chest, Feel rapture; but not such true joy are reaping As they who watch o"er what they love while sleeping.
For there it lies so tranquil, so beloved, All that it hath of life with us is living; So gentle, stirless, helpless, and unmoved, And all unconscious of the joy "t is giving; All it hath felt, inflicted, pa.s.s"d, and proved, Hush"d into depths beyond the watcher"s diving: There lies the thing we love with all its errors And all its charms, like death without its terrors.
The lady watch"d her lover--and that hour Of Love"s, and Night"s, and Ocean"s solitude, O"erflow"d her soul with their united power; Amidst the barren sand and rocks so rude She and her wave-worn love had made their bower, Where nought upon their pa.s.sion could intrude, And all the stars that crowded the blue s.p.a.ce Saw nothing happier than her glowing face.
Alas! the love of women! it is known To be a lovely and a fearful thing; For all of theirs upon that die is thrown, And if "t is lost, life hath no more to bring To them but mockeries of the past alone, And their revenge is as the tiger"s spring, Deadly, and quick, and crushing; yet, as real Torture is theirs, what they inflict they feel.
They are right; for man, to man so oft unjust, Is always so to women; one sole bond Awaits them, treachery is all their trust; Taught to conceal, their bursting hearts despond Over their idol, till some wealthier l.u.s.t Buys them in marriage--and what rests beyond?
A thankless husband, next a faithless lover, Then dressing, nursing, praying, and all "s over.
Some take a lover, some take drams or prayers, Some mind their household, others dissipation, Some run away, and but exchange their cares, Losing the advantage of a virtuous station; Few changes e"er can better their affairs, Theirs being an unnatural situation, From the dull palace to the dirty hovel: Some play the devil, and then write a novel.
Haidee was Nature"s bride, and knew not this; Haidee was Pa.s.sion"s child, born where the sun Showers triple light, and scorches even the kiss Of his gazelle-eyed daughters; she was one Made but to love, to feel that she was his Who was her chosen: what was said or done Elsewhere was nothing. She had naught to fear, Hope, care, nor love, beyond, her heart beat here.
And oh! that quickening of the heart, that beat!
How much it costs us! yet each rising throb Is in its cause as its effect so sweet, That Wisdom, ever on the watch to rob Joy of its alchymy, and to repeat Fine truths; even Conscience, too, has a tough job To make us understand each good old maxim, So good--I wonder Castlereagh don"t tax "em.
And now "t was done--on the lone sh.o.r.e were plighted Their hearts; the stars, their nuptial torches, shed Beauty upon the beautiful they lighted: Ocean their witness, and the cave their bed, By their own feelings hallow"d and united, Their priest was Solitude, and they were wed: And they were happy, for to their young eyes Each was an angel, and earth paradise.
O, Love! of whom great Caesar was the suitor, t.i.tus the master, Antony the slave, Horace, Catullus, scholars, Ovid tutor, Sappho the sage blue-stocking, in whose grave All those may leap who rather would be neuter (Leucadia"s rock still overlooks the wave)-- O, Love! thou art the very G.o.d of evil, For, after all, we cannot call thee devil.
Thou mak"st the chaste connubial state precarious, And jestest with the brows of mightiest men: Caesar and Pompey, Mahomet, Belisarius, Have much employ"d the muse of history"s pen; Their lives and fortunes were extremely various, Such worthies Time will never see again; Yet to these four in three things the same luck holds, They all were heroes, conquerors, and cuckolds.
Thou mak"st philosophers; there "s Epicurus And Aristippus, a material crew!
Who to immoral courses would allure us By theories quite practicable too; If only from the devil they would insure us, How pleasant were the maxim (not quite new), "Eat, drink, and love, what can the rest avail us?"
So said the royal sage Sardanapalus.
But Juan! had he quite forgotten Julia?
And should he have forgotten her so soon?
I can"t but say it seems to me most truly Perplexing question; but, no doubt, the moon Does these things for us, and whenever newly Strong palpitation rises, "t is her boon, Else how the devil is it that fresh features Have such a charm for us poor human creatures?
I hate inconstancy--I loathe, detest, Abhor, condemn, abjure the mortal made Of such quicksilver clay that in his breast No permanent foundation can be laid; Love, constant love, has been my constant guest, And yet last night, being at a masquerade, I saw the prettiest creature, fresh from Milan, Which gave me some sensations like a villain.
But soon Philosophy came to my aid, And whisper"d, "Think of every sacred tie!"
"I will, my dear Philosophy!" I said, "But then her teeth, and then, oh, Heaven! her eye!
I"ll just inquire if she be wife or maid, Or neither--out of curiosity."
"Stop!" cried Philosophy, with air so Grecian (Though she was masqued then as a fair Venetian);
"Stop!" so I stopp"d.--But to return: that which Men call inconstancy is nothing more Than admiration due where nature"s rich Profusion with young beauty covers o"er Some favour"d object; and as in the niche A lovely statue we almost adore, This sort of adoration of the real Is but a heightening of the "beau ideal."
"T is the perception of the beautiful, A fine extension of the faculties, Platonic, universal, wonderful, Drawn from the stars, and filter"d through the skies, Without which life would be extremely dull; In short, it is the use of our own eyes, With one or two small senses added, just To hint that flesh is form"d of fiery dust.
Yet "t is a painful feeling, and unwilling, For surely if we always could perceive In the same object graces quite as killing As when she rose upon us like an Eve, "T would save us many a heartache, many a shilling (For we must get them any how or grieve), Whereas if one sole lady pleased for ever, How pleasant for the heart as well as liver!
The heart is like the sky, a part of heaven, But changes night and day, too, like the sky; Now o"er it clouds and thunder must be driven, And darkness and destruction as on high: But when it hath been scorch"d, and pierced, and riven, Its storms expire in water-drops; the eye Pours forth at last the heart"s blood turn"d to tears, Which make the English climate of our years.
The liver is the lazaret of bile, But very rarely executes its function, For the first pa.s.sion stays there such a while, That all the rest creep in and form a junction, Life knots of vipers on a dunghill"s soil,-- Rage, fear, hate, jealousy, revenge, compunction,-- So that all mischiefs spring up from this entrail, Like earthquakes from the hidden fire call"d "central,"
In the mean time, without proceeding more In this anatomy, I "ve finish"d now Two hundred and odd stanzas as before, That being about the number I "ll allow Each canto of the twelve, or twenty-four; And, laying down my pen, I make my bow, Leaving Don Juan and Haidee to plead For them and theirs with all who deign to read.
[Ill.u.s.tration: Canto 3]
CANTO THE THIRD.
Hail, Muse! et cetera.--We left Juan sleeping, Pillow"d upon a fair and happy breast, And watch"d by eyes that never yet knew weeping, And loved by a young heart, too deeply blest To feel the poison through her spirit creeping, Or know who rested there, a foe to rest, Had soil"d the current of her sinless years, And turn"d her pure heart"s purest blood to tears!
O, Love! what is it in this world of ours Which makes it fatal to be loved? Ah, why With cypress branches hast thou Wreathed thy bowers, And made thy best interpreter a sigh?
As those who dote on odours pluck the flowers, And place them on their breast--but place to die-- Thus the frail beings we would fondly cherish Are laid within our bosoms but to perish.
In her first pa.s.sion woman loves her lover, In all the others all she loves is love, Which grows a habit she can ne"er get over, And fits her loosely--like an easy glove, As you may find, whene"er you like to prove her: One man alone at first her heart can move; She then prefers him in the plural number, Not finding that the additions much enc.u.mber.
I know not if the fault be men"s or theirs; But one thing "s pretty sure; a woman planted (Unless at once she plunge for life in prayers) After a decent time must be gallanted; Although, no doubt, her first of love affairs Is that to which her heart is wholly granted; Yet there are some, they say, who have had none, But those who have ne"er end with only one.
"T is melancholy, and a fearful sign Of human frailty, folly, also crime, That love and marriage rarely can combine, Although they both are born in the same clime; Marriage from love, like vinegar from wine-- A sad, sour, sober beverage--by time Is sharpen"d from its high celestial flavour Down to a very homely household savour.
There "s something of antipathy, as "t were, Between their present and their future state; A kind of flattery that "s hardly fair Is used until the truth arrives too late-- Yet what can people do, except despair?
The same things change their names at such a rate; For instance--pa.s.sion in a lover "s glorious, But in a husband is p.r.o.nounced uxorious.