Classic Poem

CANTO IV .

*****

" A H , why look back, though all is left behind?
No sounds of life are stirring in the wind. —
And you, ye birds, winging your passage home,
How blest ye are! — We know not where we roam.
We go, " they cried, " go to return no more;
Nor ours, alas! the transport to explore
A human footstep on a desert shore! "

*****

— Still, as beyond this mortal life impelled
By some mysterious energy, he held
His everlasting course. Still self-possessed,
High on the deck he stood, disdaining rest
(His amber-chain the only badge he bore,
His mantle blue such as his fathers wore);
Fathomed, with searching hand, the dark profound,
And scattered hope and glad assurance round;
Though, like some strange portentous dream, the Past
Still hovered, and the cloudless sky o'ercast.
At day-break might the Caravels be seen,
Chasing their shadows o'er the deep serene;
Their burnished prows lashed by the sparkling tide,
Their green-cross standards waving far and wide
And now once more to better thoughts inclined,
The seaman, mounting, clamored in the wind,
The soldier told his tales of love and war;
The courtier sung — sung to his gay guitar.
Round, at Primero, sate a whiskered band;
So Fortune smiled, careless of sea or land!
L EON , M ONTALVAN (serving side by side;
Two with one soul — and, as they lived, they died),
V ASCO the brave, thrice found among the slain,
Thrice, and how soon, up and in arms again,
As soon to wish he had been sought in vain,
Chained down in Fez , beneath the bitter thong,
To the hard bench and heavy oar so long!
A LBERT of F LORENCE , who, at twilight-time,
In my rapt ear poured D ANTE'S tragic rhyme,
Screened by the sail as near the mast we lay,
Our nights illumined by the ocean-spray;
And M ANFRED , who espoused with jewelled ring
Young I SABEL , then left her sorrowing:
L ERMA " the generous, " A VILA " the proud; "
V ELASQUEZ , G ARCLA , through the echoing crowd
Traced by their mirth — from E BRO'S classic shore,
From golden T AJO , to return no more!