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 _2330 Who feels; but when his zone grew dim in mist Which clothes the Ocean"s bosom, o"er the plains The mult.i.tudes went homeward, to their rest, Which that delightful day with its own shadow blessed.
NOTES: _2295 flame]light edition 1818.
CANTO 6.
1.
Beside the dimness of the glimmering sea, _2335 Weaving swift language from impa.s.sioned themes, With that dear friend I lingered, 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 lapped _2340 Our willing fancies, till the pallid beams Of the last watchfire fell, and darkness wrapped The waves, and each bright chain of floating fire was snapped;
2.
And till we came even to the City"s wall And the great gate; then, none knew whence or why, _2345 Disquiet on the mult.i.tudes did fall: And first, one pale and breathless pa.s.sed 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 _2350 Hither and thither hurrying with pale cheeks, Each one from fear unknown a sudden refuge seeks--
3.
Then, rallying cries of treason and of danger Resounded: and--"They come! to arms! to arms!
The Tyrant is amongst us, and the stranger _2355 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 swept Like waves before the tempest--these alarms Came to me, as to know their cause I lept _2360 On the gate"s turret, and in rage and grief and scorn I wept!
4.
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 _2365 I heard approach, and saw the throng below Stream through the gates like foam-wrought waterfalls Fed from a thousand storms--the fearful glow Of bombs flares overhead--at intervals The red artillery"s bolt mangling among them falls. _2370
5.
And now the hors.e.m.e.n come--and all was done Swifter than I have spoken--I beheld Their red swords flash in the unrisen sun.
I rushed among the rout, to have repelled That miserable flight--one moment quelled _2375 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 mult.i.tudes, and did those rallied bands o"erbear.
6.
I strove, as, drifted on some cataract _2380 By irresistible streams, some wretch might strive Who hears its fatal roar:--the files compact Whelmed me, and from the gate availed to drive With quickening impulse, as each bolt did rive Their ranks with bloodier chasm:--into the plain _2385 Disgorged at length the dead and the alive In one dread ma.s.s, were parted, and the stain Of blood, from mortal steel fell o"er the fields like rain.
7.
For now the despot"s bloodhounds with their prey Unarmed and unaware, were gorging deep _2390 Their gluttony of death; the loose array Of hors.e.m.e.n 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 _2395 A killing rain of fire:--when the waves smile As sudden earthquakes light many a volcano-isle,
8.
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, _2400 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 might Of virtuous shame return, the crowd I stirred, _2405 And desperation"s hope in many hearts recurred.
9.
A band of brothers gathering round me, made, Although unarmed, a steadfast front, and still Retreating, with stern looks beneath the shade Of gathered eyebrows, did the victors fill _2410 With doubt even in success; deliberate will Inspired our growing troop; not overthrown It gained the shelter of a gra.s.sy hill, And ever still our comrades were hewn down, And their defenceless limbs beneath our footsteps strown. _2415
10.
Immovably we stood--in joy I found, Beside me then, firm as a giant pine Among the mountain-vapours driven around, The old man whom I loved--his eyes divine With a mild look of courage answered mine, _2420 And my young friend was near, and ardently His hand grasped mine a moment--now the line Of war extended, to our rallying cry As myriads flocked in love and brotherhood to die.
11.
For ever while the sun was climbing Heaven _2425 The horseman hewed our unarmed myriads down Safely, though when by thirst of carnage driven Too near, those slaves were swiftly overthrown By hundreds leaping on them:--flesh and bone Soon made our ghastly ramparts; then the shaft _2430 Of the artillery from the sea was thrown More fast and fiery, and the conquerors laughed In pride to hear the wind our screams of torment waft.
12.
For on one side alone the hill gave shelter, So vast that phalanx of unconquered men, _2435 And there the living in the blood did welter Of the dead and dying, which in that green glen, Like stifled torrents, made a plashy fen Under the feet--thus was the butchery waged While the sun clomb Heaven"s eastern steep--but when _2440 It "gan to sink--a fiercer combat raged, For in more doubtful strife the armies were engaged.
13.
Within a cave upon the hill were found A bundle of rude pikes, the instrument Of those who war but on their native ground _2445 For natural rights: a shout of joyance sent Even from our hearts the wide air pierced and rent, As those few arms the bravest and the best Seized, and each sixth, thus armed, did now present A line which covered and sustained the rest, _2450 A confident phalanx, which the foes on every side invest.
14.
That onset turned the foes to flight almost; But soon they saw their present strength, and knew That coming night would to our resolute host Bring victory; so dismounting, close they drew _2455 Their glittering files, and then the combat grew Unequal but most horrible;--and ever Our myriads, whom the swift bolt overthrew, Or the red sword, failed like a mountain river Which rushes forth in foam to sink in sands for ever. _2460
15.
Sorrow and shame, to see with their own kind Our human brethren mix, like beasts of blood, To mutual ruin armed by one behind Who sits and scoffs!--That friend so mild and good, Who like its shadow near my youth had stood, _2465 Was stabbed!--my old preserver"s h.o.a.ry hair With the flesh clinging to its roots, was strewed Under my feet!--I lost all sense or care, And like the rest I grew desperate and unaware.
16.
The battle became ghastlier--in the midst _2470 I paused, and saw, how ugly and how fell O Hate! thou art, even when thy life thou shedd"st For love. The ground in many a little dell Was broken, up and down whose steeps befell Alternate victory and defeat, and there _2475 The combatants with rage most horrible Strove, and their eyes started with cracking stare, And impotent their tongues they lolled into the air,
17.
Flaccid and foamy, like a mad dog"s hanging; Want, and Moon-madness, and the pest"s swift Bane _2480 When its shafts smite--while yet its bow is tw.a.n.ging-- Have each their mark and sign--some ghastly stain; And this was thine, O War! of hate and pain Thou loathed slave! I saw all shapes of death And ministered to many, o"er the plain _2485 While carnage in the sunbeam"s warmth did seethe, Till twilight o"er the east wove her serenest wreath.
18.
The few who yet survived, resolute and firm Around me fought. At the decline of day Winding above the mountain"s snowy term _2490 New banners shone; they quivered in the ray Of the sun"s unseen orb--ere night the array Of fresh troops hemmed us in--of those brave bands I soon survived alone--and now I lay Vanquished and faint, the grasp of b.l.o.o.d.y hands _2495 I felt, and saw on high the glare of falling brands,
19.
When on my foes a sudden terror came, And they fled, scattering--lo! with reinless speed A black Tartarian horse of giant frame Comes trampling over the dead, the living bleed _2500 Beneath the hoofs of that tremendous steed, On which, like to an Angel, robed in white, Sate one waving a sword;--the hosts recede And fly, as through their ranks with awful might, Sweeps in the shadow of eve that Phantom swift and bright; _2505
20.
And its path made a solitude.--I rose And marked its coming: it relaxed its course As it approached me, and the wind that flows Through night, bore accents to mine ear whose force Might create smiles in death--the Tartar horse _2510 Paused, and I saw the shape its might which swayed, And heard her musical pants, like the sweet source Of waters in the desert, as she said, "Mount with me, Laon, now"--I rapidly obeyed.
21.
Then: "Away! away!" she cried, and stretched her sword _2515 As "twere a scourge over the courser"s head, And lightly shook the reins.--We spake no word, But like the vapour of the tempest fled Over the plain; her dark hair was dispread Like the pine"s locks upon the lingering blast; _2520 Over mine eyes its shadowy strings it spread Fitfully, and the hills and streams fled fast, As o"er their glimmering forms the steed"s broad shadow pa.s.sed.
22.
And his hoofs ground the rocks to fire and dust, His strong sides made the torrents rise in spray, _2525 And turbulence, as of a whirlwind"s gust Surrounded us;--and still away! away!
Through the desert night we sped, while she alway Gazed on a mountain which we neared, whose crest, Crowned with a marble ruin, in the ray _2530 Of the obscure stars gleamed;--its rugged breast The steed strained up, and then his impulse did arrest.
23.
A rocky hill which overhung the Ocean:-- From that lone ruin, when the steed that panted Paused, might be heard the murmur of the motion _2535 Of waters, as in spots for ever haunted By the choicest winds of Heaven, which are enchanted To music, by the wand of Solitude, That wizard wild, and the far tents implanted Upon the plain, be seen by those who stood _2540 Thence marking the dark sh.o.r.e of Ocean"s curved flood.
24.
One moment these were heard and seen--another Pa.s.sed; and the two who stood beneath that night, Each only heard, or saw, or felt the other; As from the lofty steed she did alight, _2545 Cythna, (for, from the eyes whose deepest light Of love and sadness made my lips feel pale With influence strange of mournfullest delight, My own sweet Cythna looked), with joy did quail, And felt her strength in tears of human weakness fail. _2550
25.
And for a s.p.a.ce in my embrace she rested, Her head on my unquiet heart reposing, While my faint arms her languid frame invested; At length she looked on me, and half unclosing Her tremulous lips, said, "Friend, thy bands were losing _2555 The battle, as I stood before the King In bonds.--I burst them then, and swiftly choosing The time, did seize a Tartar"s sword, and spring Upon his horse, and swift, as on the whirlwind"s wing,
26.
"Have thou and I been borne beyond pursuer, _2560 And we are here."--Then, turning to the steed, She pressed the white moon on his front with pure And rose-like lips, and many a fragrant weed From the green ruin plucked, that he might feed;-- But I to a stone seat that Maiden led, _2565 And, kissing her fair eyes, said, "Thou hast need Of rest," and I heaped up the courser"s bed In a green mossy nook, with mountain flowers dispread.
27.
Within that ruin, where a shattered portal Looks to the eastern stars, abandoned now _2570 By man, to be the home of things immortal, Memories, like awful ghosts which come and go, And must inherit all he builds below, When he is gone, a hall stood; o"er whose roof Fair clinging weeds with ivy pale did grow, _2575 Clasping its gray rents with a verdurous woof, A hanging dome of leaves, a canopy moon-proof.
28.
The autumnal winds, as if spell-bound, had made A natural couch of leaves in that recess, Which seasons none disturbed, but, in the shade _2580 Of flowering parasites, did Spring love to dress With their sweet blooms the wintry loneliness Of those dead leaves, shedding their stars, whene"er The wandering wind her nurslings might caress; Whose intertwining fingers ever there _2585 Made music wild and soft that filled the listening air.
29.
We know not where we go, or what sweet dream May pilot us through caverns strange and fair Of far and pathless pa.s.sion, while the stream Of life, our bark doth on its whirlpools bear, _2590 Spreading swift wings as sails to the dim air; Nor should we seek to know, so the devotion Of love and gentle thoughts be heard still there Louder and louder from the utmost Ocean Of universal life, attuning its commotion. _2595
30.