It was to seek each wild and hidden haunt,
Gathering strange wisdom-evermore the while
Filling my soul with shapes more beautiful
Than e'er yet, born of sunlight and the air,
Dwelt in the morning clouds, or, shorter-lived,
Had wings among the Hours.
Thou wast not happy!·
We also know, for ages numbered not,
Beauty and knowledge.
Clearly dost thou see
The poor conditions of existence. Never
Could joy abide with me, but emptiness
Within me ached, like the great void of space
"Alas!" I said,
Before that worlds were made.
I have beheld these fairest things alone!
What joy can be to solitary eyes
Looking on nature or the realms of thought:"
-Thenceforth, unrestingly, I sought me out
Clear intellects and mighty-one by one
I sought them-men whose fiery feet had climbed
To dazzling heights of science, and their gaze
Attained to widest vision: we became
Co-rulers in such high ethereal reign
Spirit of Ocean.
Erdolph.
Spirit of Ocean.
Erdolph.
Spirit of Ocean.
Erdolph.
Most rare and glittering mockery!
Sublimely lived we-loftily and chill
We stood as on the cold and shining top
Of some huge berg above the northern Pole,
Where spreads the pale, thin sky, and streaming o'er
A world of glaciers and the icy sea,
The very light seems frozen.
Comes joy!" again I said.
The only such-sole reflex of my being!
Not greater need have twin-born stars in heaven
To move around each other, and o'ergaze
Th' encircling universe by mutual light,
Than have two radiant minds to read anew
The gifts of knowledge in each other's eyes.
And searching
Long the search and vain as long!
Nor on the earth, in vale, or city thronged-
Nor in the elements, air, water, fire-
Could I this dear Existence ever find.
Within my breast vain visions, fair but fleet,
Made ceaseless change of sorrows, but the years
Passed over heedlessly as April shadows
O'erglide the forest tops nor know what dreams
May haunt the gloomy depths.
Thou didst have need
To love and be beloved. What scorn had seized thee
That no sweet spirit lapped in maiden mould,
Appeared thine imaged wish-
I was not of that nature? for with me
Beautiful weakness never could have power,
And such are all Eve's daughters. None did seem-
Thou pausest-and a shade came over thee.
For then, even then, one earthly form before me
Pale Memory led, for whose sake to have loved,
had not been vain !
Could I have bent me so,
High-born she was, but of a flower-like pride,
Spirit of Ocean.
Erdolph.
Tender as tears-serene in her young grace,
And pure as young, and beautiful as pure:
Clear-browed Eliria! and her stately mind
Had yet such delicate thought, unconscious born,
As stirs a spirit new-lighted on the earth,
Wondering, o'er-charmed, at every common thing,
So moulded was she, and her mind had strength
Beyond her equals. But with her, to love
Was native as a plant that comes with spring-
Suddenly comes and never blooms but once!
And Destiny, itself the slave of Chance,
Made me to her-what matters it! she died,
As dies the Wind-Flower with excess of light,
And trembled into darkness! o'er the dust-
What tears had'st thou to give?
No more! she sleeps
Nor knows how fair between my soul and her
Forever rose the Ideal-still forever
Changed by the breath of Fancy, as the wind
Changes the bright shape of a summer cloud.
'Twas on a day-no moment can have power
In all duration to forget that day-
A summer's day I laid me down to rest
By a cool fountain. Slumber stole upon me,
And dreams confused with many images
And shifting scenes. But quickly these were past,
And light most magical did shine around,
Nor of the sun nor moon, but as the shining
Of some large solemn star; and while I gazed
In mute astonishment, appeared before me-
So fair, so pure, so eloquent with life,
What golden pen of angel can describe
That thing of earth and heaven-a chisel'd form
That looked embodied light-a countenance
Of sad and spiritual beauty, sweet
Ineffably, reflecting in its mien
A heaven of loveliness, and mantled o'er
With the most holy, bright intelligence
Of deep and starry midnight. Long I yearned
To hear a voice from her, but dared not speak
Lest I should scare away the gentle vision-
I strove to speak, but with a motion slow
As ship that sails the sea-yet, ah! too quick
For me that wondered after her!—she passed,
Leaving a darkness for so much of light!
And I awoke to sigh, that I had found
And lost again what I had sought so long!
But ever from that hour, by night, by day,
In dreams, in reveries, I have beheld
The self-same form and face which did appear
By that cool fountain. Yea! all times, all places
Have still presented to my mental eye
The same sweet image. I have seen it look
From heaven's clear mirror; I have seen it glazed
Within the running stream, in shady fount,
On sleeping lake, on ocean's face, and oft,
Full often called and listened for an answer.
Thus, ever present with her, yet debarred
From converse sweet, I have in midnight vigils
Pored over ancient scrolls of wicked lore,
Wringing from nature's mysteries a power
And fearful spell by which I have enforced
The mightiest spirits to my ministration,
That by their subtle skill I might endow
This lovely phantom of my own dark mind,
If such, with life, voice, passions, thus to hold
Communion with her spirit. Oh! in vain,
Most vainly have I lived through many years,
In bitterness of soul, to find the vision
Still ever lovely, ever voiceless still,
As first in that sweet dream!
O, Lord of Ocean! to thy sounding halls,
If thou, the mightiest Spirit of earth, canst make
This spirit, or phantom, whatso'er she be,
A bright reality, with voice and words
And answering sympathies.
Who had'st no sympathies for all thy race,
And left'st the heart which had no thought but thee,
Like a rare time-piece in neglected chamber,
To beat unheeded to an early death,
Slow throbbing into silence.
Speak no more
Of beauty that hath perished; Fate for this
Shall stand thy sternest question. Let the Past
With his gray mantle hide all memories,
Save the dear Vision which I bid thee bring.
'Tis well. I know this being;-abode she hath not,
Moving immortally from world to world,
But, chance she now within the sphere of Earth,
Haunting the mountains, hovering through space,
Following the early daylight round the globe,
Or wandering with the weird and viewless wind-
She shall be summoned to thee. But I know
"Twill be but to abash thy selfish soul.
(As the Spirit of Ocean waved his sceptre and uttered slowly his incantation, a voice was heard approaching, first distant, then nearer—singing:
A smile from that eternal face,
Which hath forever shone,
The universe my dwelling-place,
Through all my power is known.
Where'er I glance the stars put on
Their beauty and their pride,
And fresh-lit worlds, where I have gone.
Shine brightly side by side.
The orb, where mortals have their birth,
I've made to please their eye;
I've robed in living green the earth,
In varied hues the sky;
I give the trees their lordly growth,
The plants their lowly grace,
And deck with gay and many dies
The Ether's airy race.
If thou be not a mockery of the mind!
Nay! look not so upon me, with those eyes
Wherein a heaven of conscious purity
Lies calmly pitying, suffused with dew:
I know that I have sinned!
By evil power
Thou hast obtained my presence: what is there
Between thy soul and me?
Have I not loved thee,
And with a love that knew no change through years
Of suffering and sin? Have I not scorned
The loves of kindred and the hopes of fame,
The common sympathies of social life,
And smiles and tears of maidens eyeing me
With trembling tenderness-through darkening days
Still clinging to the worship of thine image,
The pale remembrance of a vanished dream?
Spirit of Beauty. Art thou so sinful, yet thou darest to love?
Has thy dark life borne thee to so great light?
-Heaven gave thee many gifts, the greatest this,
To feel in beauty an undying joy.
So could the spirit of the universe
Thy boyhood thrill, and Nature's lessons wise
Were stored in golden chambers of thy mind.
But when with growing years it had become
The passion of thy being, and thou could'st
Forget or scorn that nobler beauty, Virtue's,
And the bright forms of uncreated Truth,
The aims of all existence were o'erlooked,
And Heaven commended to thy parching lips
The ashy cup of bitterest discontent.
Turning from these in wretchedness of heart
To satisfy the cravings of the soul,
With beauty more sublime, ethereal,
Of knowledge and the mind; but this alone,
The farther thou from highest excellence,
And darker paths around thee. It was then
To punish thy perverseness, I was sent
To lead thy folly on and torture thee
With a vain vision. In that transient dream
I did appear, and by that shady fountain
In this created loveliness I gazed
In sadness on thee-that thou couldst so miss
What was most truly beautiful, and stir
Thy soul's pure springs to blackness with vain toil
After that happiness which hidden lay
In thine own breast; would'st thou its fount unseal
I would have spoken, but thy God had left thee
To the wild workings of thine own dark soul,
And would not have thee warned. And from that hour
In wretched constancy thou hast adored
My semblance mirrored in thy restless mind-
A phantom loveliness. But now return
To the green earth, and open all thy heart
To fairest Virtue and immortal Truth,
And the large charities of human love,
And through thy being thou shalt thrice enjoy
All loveliness beside; but otherwise
Created beauty shall forever be
A madness and a torture to thy spirit:
The conquering sun shall seem to thee a blot,
Erdolph.
Spirit of Beauty.
Erdolph.
The stars shall pain thee, and the pallid moon
Shall haunt thee like a ghost; the skies, the sea,
And mighty forests shall oppress thy soul
With deep self-scorn; no common plant or flower
Shall move sweet tears in thee, and thou shalt wish
All happy birds and innocent finny tribes
Might from the face of Nature quickly perish :
Yea! evermore, instead of radiant shapes
That can withdraw thee hourly into Heaven,
From out the gloomy places of the mind
Skeleton Horror shall surprise and scare thee.
(Spirit of Beauty retiring.)
Oh! one word more! Say that thou hat'st me not!
How should I hate whom Heaven hath borne so long?
Yet now, farewell!
Oh! linger yet a moment!
Is it a sin that I have loved thee so,
And worshipped thy bright image?
Let grief and suffering atone for that,
Long as this heart can know the power of pain,
But let me gaze on thee and hear thee still.
Spirit of Beauty. How can I linger? for my errand is
To beautify the universe of God,
Where'er fresh worlds encroach upon the vo
Of outer darkness. Yet my presence still
Shall be around thee, and with upright soul
Thou may'st behold and hear me in the face
And voice of Nature-in the whisperings
And sweet affections of the human breast,
And in the aspirings of the human mind
Be they but pure.
I hear the journeying stars,
The circling suns, and angel's song proclaim
The birth of a new world, and I must haste
To bathe it in the gladdening smile of God!
|