Classic Poem

Swift as a spirit hastening to his task
Of glory and of good,the Sun sprang forth
Rejoicing in his splendour, and the mask

OfDarkness fell from the awakened Earth--
The smokeless altars of themountain snows
Flamed above crimson clouds, and at the birth

Oflight, the Ocean's orison arose,
To which the birds tempered theirmatin lay.
All flowers in field or forest which unclose

Theirtrembling eyelids to the kiss of day,
Swinging their censers in theelement,
With orient incense lit by the new ray

Burned slow andinconsumably, and sent
Their odorous sighs up to the smilingair;
And, in succession due, did continent,

Isle, ocean, and allthings that in them wear
The form and character of mortalmould
Rise as the Sun their father rose, to bear

Their portion ofthe toil, which he of old
Took as his own, and then imposed onthem:
But I, whom thoughts which must remain untold

Had kept aswakeful as the stars that gem
The cone of night, now they were laidasleep
Stretched my faint limbs beneath the hoary stem

Which anold chestnut flung athwart the steep
Of a green Apennine: before mefled
The night; behind me rose the day; the deep

Was at my feet,and Heaven above my head,--
When a strange trance over my fancygrew
Which was not slumber, for the shade it spread

Was sotransparent, that the scene came through
As clear as when a veil oflight is drawn
O'er evening hills they glimmer; and I knew

That Ihad felt the freshness of that dawn
Bathe in the same cold dew mybrow and hair,
And sate as thus upon that slope of lawn

Under theself-same bough, and heard as there
The birds, the fountains and theocean hold
Sweet talk in music through the enamoured air
And then avision on my brain was rolled.

As in that trance of wondrousthought I lay,
This was the tenour of my waking dream:--
MethoughtI sate beside a public way

Thick strewn with summer dust, and agreat stream
Of people there was hurrying to and fro,
Numerous asgnats upon the evening gleam,

All hastening onward, yet none seemedto know
Whither he went, or whence he came, or why
He made one ofthe multitude, and so

Was borne amid the crowd, as through thesky
One of the million leaves of summer's bier;
Old age and youth,manhood and infancy,

Mixed in one mighty torrent didappear,
Some flying from the thing they feared, and some
Seekingthe object of another's fear;

And others, as with steps towardsthe tomb,
Pored on the trodden worms that crawled beneath,
Andothers mournfully within the gloom

Of their own shadow walked, andcalled it death;
And some fled from it as it were a ghost,
Halffainting in the affliction of vain breath:

But more, with motionswhich each other crossed,
Pursued or shunned the shadows the cloudsthrew,
Or birds within the noonday aether lost,

Upon that pathwhere flowers never grew.--
And, weary with vain toil and faint forthirst,
Heard not the fountains, whose melodious dew

Out of theirmossy cells forever burst;
Nor felt the breeze which from the foresttold
Of grassy paths and wood-lawns interspersed

With overarchingelms and caverns cold,
And violet banks where sweet dreams brood, butthey
Pursued their serious folly as of old.

And as I gazed,methought that in the way
The throng grew wilder, as the woods ofJune
When the south wind shakes the extinguished day,

And a coldglare, intenser than the noon,
But icy cold, obscured with blindinglight
The sun, as he the stars. Like the young moon--

When on thesunlit limits of the night
Her white shell trembles amid crimsonair,
And whilst the sleeping tempest gathers might--

Doth, as theherald of its coming, bear
The ghost of its dead mother, whose dimform
Bends in dark aether from her infant's chair,--

So came achariot on the silent storm
Of its own rushing splendour, and aShape
So sate within, as one whom years deform,

Beneath a duskyhood and double cape,
Crouching within the shadow of a tomb;
Ando'er what seemed the head of cloud-like crape

Was bent, a dun andfaint aethereal gloom
Tempering the light. Upon the chariot-beam
AJanus-visaged Shadow did assume

The guidance of thatwonder-winged team;
The shapes which drew it in thicklightenings
Were lost:--I heard alone on the air's softstream

The music of their ever-moving wings.
All the four facesof that Charioteer
Had their eyes banded; little profitbrings

Speed in the van and blindness in the rear,
Nor then availthe beams that quench the sun,--
Or that with banded eyes couldpierce the sphere

Of all that is, has been or will be done;
Soill was the car guided--but it passed
With solemn speed majesticallyon.

The crowd gave way, and I arose aghast,
Or seemed to rise, somighty was the trance,
And saw, like clouds upon thethunder-blast,

The million with fierce song and maniacdance
Raging around--such seemed the jubilee
As when to greet someconqueror's advance

Imperial Rome poured forth her livingsea
From senate-house, and forum, and theatre,
When uponthe free

Had bound a yoke, which soon they stooped to bear.
Norwanted here the just similitude
Of a triumphal pageant, forwhere'er

The chariot rolled, a captive multitude
Was driven;--allthose who had grown old in power
Or misery,--all who had their agesubdued

By action or by suffering, and whose hour
Was drained toits last sand in weal or woe,
So that the trunk survived both fruitand flower;--

All those whose fame or infamy must grow
Till thegreat winter lay the form and name
Of this green earth with them forever low;--

All but the sacred few who could not tame
Theirspirits to the conquerors--
As they had touched the world withliving flame,

Fled back like eagles to their native noon,
Orthose who put aside the diadem
Of earthly thrones or gems . ..

Were there, of Athens or Jerusalem,
Were neither mid the mightycaptives seen,
Nor mid the ribald crowd that followed them,

Yetere I can say where--the chariot hath
Passed over them-- nor othertrace I find
But as of foam after the ocean's wrath

Is spentupon the desert shore;--behind,
Old men and women foullydisarrayed,
Shake their gray hairs in the insulting wind,

Andfollow in the dance, with limbs decayed,
Seeking to reach the lightwhich leaves them still
Farther behind and deeper in theshade.

But not the less with impotence of will
They wheel, thoughghastly shadows interpose
Round them and round each other, andfulfil

Their work, and in the dust from whence they rose
Sink,and corruption veils them as they lie,
And past in these performswhat in those.

Struck to the heart by this sadpageantry,
Half to myself I said--"And what is this?
Whose shape isthat within the car? And why--'

I would have added--"is all hereamiss?--'
But a voice answered--"Life!'--I turned, and knew
(OHeaven, have mercy on such wretchedness!)

That what I thought wasan old root which grew
To strange distortion out of the hillside,
Was indeed one of those deluded crew,

And that the grass,which methought hung so wide
And white, was but this thin discolouredhair,
And that the holes he vainly sought to hide,

Were or hadbeen eyes:--"If thou canst, forbear
To join the dance, which I hadwell forborne!'
Said the grim Feature (of my thought aware).

"Iwill unfold that which to this deep scorn
Led me and my companions,and relate
The progress of the pageant since the morn;

"If thirstof knowledge shall not then abate,
Follow it thou even to the night,but I
Am weary.'--Then like one who with the weight

Of his ownwords is staggered, wearily
He paused, and ere he could resume, Icried:
"First, who art thou?'--"Before thy memory,

"I feared,loved, hated, suffered, did and died,
And if the spark with whichHeaven lit my spirit
Had been with purer nutriment supplied,

"Corruption would not now thus much inherit
Of what was onceRousseau,--nor this disguise
Stain that which ought to have disdainedto wear it;

"If I have been extinguished, yet there rise
Athousand beacons from the spark I bore'--
"And who are those chainedto the car?'--"The wise,

"The great, the unforgotten,--they whowore
Mitres and helms and crowns, or wreaths of light,
Signs ofthought's empire over thought--their lore

"Taught them not this, toknow themselves; their might
Could not repress the mysterywithin,
And for the morn of truth they feigned, deepnight

"Caught them ere evening.'--"Who is he with chin
Upon hisbreast, and hands crossed on his chains?'--
"The child of a fiercehour; he sought to win

"The world, and lost all that it didcontain
Of greatness, in its hope destroyed; and more
Of fame andpeace than virtue's self can gain

"Without the opportunity whichbore
Him on its eagle pinions to the peak
From which a thousandclimbers have before

"Fallen as Napoleon fell.'-- I felt mycheek
Alter, to see the shadow pass away,
Whose grasp had leftthe giant world so weak

That every pigmy kicked it as it lay;
And much I grieved to think how power and will
In opposition ruleour mortal day,

And why God made irreconcilable
Good and themeans of good; and for despair
I half disdained mine eyes' desire tofill

With the spent vision of the times that were
And scarce haveceased to be.--"Dost thou behold,'
Said my guide, "those spoilersspoiled, Voltaire,

"Frederick, and Paul, Catherine, andLeopold,
And hoary anarchs, demagogues, and sage--
names whichthe world thinks always old,

"For in the battle Life and they didwage,
She remained conqueror. I was overcome
By my own heart alone,which neither age,

"Nor tears, nor infamy, nor now the tomb
Couldtemper to its object.'--"Let them pass,'
I cried, "the world and itsmysterious doom

"Is not so much more glorious than it was,
That Idesire to worship those who drew
New figures on its false and fragileglass

"As the old faded.'-- "Figures ever new
Rise on thebubble, paint them as you may;
We have but thrown, as thosebefore us threw,

"Our shadows on it as it passed away.
Butmark how chained to the triumphal chair
The mighty phantoms of anelder day;

"All that is mortal of great Plato there
Expiatesthe joy and woe his master knew not;
The star that ruled his doomwas far too fair.

"And life, where long that flower of Heavengrew not
Conquered that heart by love, which gold, or pain,
Or age,or sloth, or slavery could subdue not.

"And near him walk thetwain,
The tutor and his pupil, whom Dominion
Followed as tame asvulture in a chain.

"The world was darkened beneath eitherpinion
Of him whom from the flock of conquerors
Fame singled outfor the thunder-bearing minion;

"The other long outlived both woesand wars,
Throned in the thoughts of men, and still had kept
Thejealous key of Truth's eternal doors,

"If Bacon's eagle spirit hadnot lept
Like lightning out of darkness--he compelled
The Proteusshape of Nature, as it slept

"To wake, and lead him to the cavesthat held
The treasure of the secrets of its reign.
See the greatbards of elder time, who quelled

"The passions which they sung, asby their strain
May well be known: their living melody
Tempers itsown contagion to the vein

"Of those who are infected withit--I
Have suffered what I wrote, or viler pain!
And so my wordshave seeds of misery--

"Even as the deeds of others, not astheirs.'
And then he pointed to a company,

"Midst whom I quicklyrecognized the heirs
Of Caesar's crime, from him toConstantine;
The anarch chiefs, whose force and murderoussnares

Had founded many a sceptre-bearing line,
And spread theplague of gold and blood abroad:
And Gregory and John, and mendivine,

Who rose like shadows between man and God;
Till thateclipse, still hanging over heaven,
Was worshipped by the world o'erwhich they strode,

For the true sun it quenched--"Their power wasgiven
But to destroy,' replied the leader:--"I
Am one of those whohave created, even

If it be but a world of agony.'--
"Whencecamest thou? and wither goest thou?
How did thy course begin?' Isaid, "and why?

"Mine eyes are sick of this perpetual flow
Ofpeople, and my heart sick of one sad thought-
Speak!'--"Whence I am,I partly seem to know,

"And how and by what paths I have beenbrought
To this dread pass, methinks even thou mayst guess
Why thisshould be, my mind can compass not;

"Whither the conqueror hurriesme, still less;--
But follow thou, and from spectator turn
Actor orvictim in this wretchedness,

"And what thou wouldst be taught Ithen may learn
From thee. Now listen:--In the April prime,
When allthe forest-tips began to burn

"With kindling green, touched by theazure clime
Of the young season, I was laid asleep
Under amountain, which from unknown time

"Had yawned into a cavern, highand deep;
And from it came a gentle rivulet,
Whose water, likeclear air, in its calm sweep

"Bent the soft grass, and kept forever wet
The stems of the sweet flowers, and filled the grove
Withsounds, which whoso hears must needs forget

"All pleasure and allpain, all hate and love,
Which they had known before that hour ofrest;
A sleeping mother then would dream not of

"Her only childwho dies upon the breast
At eventide--a king would mourn nomore
The crown of which his brows were dispossessed

When the sunlingered o'er his ocean floor
To gild his rival's newprosperity.
Thou wouldst forget thus vainly to deplore

"Ills,which if ills can find no cure from thee,
The thought of which noother sleep will quell,
Nor other music blot from memory,

"Sosweet and deep is the oblivious spell;

And whether life had beenbefore that sleep
The Heaven which I imagine, or a Hell

"Likethis harsh world in which I wake to weep,
I know not.
The sceneof woods and waters seemed to keep,

"Though it was now broad day, agentle trace
Of light diviner than the common sun
Sheds on thecommon earth, and all the place

"Was filled with magic sounds woveninto one
Oblivious melody, confusing sense
Amid the gliding wavesand shadows dun;

"And as I looked, the bright omnipresence
Ofmorning through the orient cavern flowed,
And the sun's imageradiantly intense

"Burned on the waters of the well thatglowed
Like gold, and threaded all the forest's maze
With windingpaths of emerald fire; there stood

"Amid the sun, as he amid theblaze
Of his own glory, on the vibrating
Floor of the fountain,paved with flashing rays,

"A Shape all light, which with one handdid fling
Dew on the earth, as if she were the dawn,
And theinvisible rain did ever sing

"A silver music on the mossy lawn;
And still before me on the dusky grass,
Iris her many-colouredscarf had drawn:

"In her right hand she bore a crystalglass,
Mantling with bright Nepenthe; the fierce splendour
Fellfrom her as she moved under the mass

"Of the deep cavern, and withpalms so tender,
Their tread broke not the mirror of itsbillow,
Glided along the river, and did bend her

"Head under thedark boughs, till like a willow
Her fair hair swept the bosom of thestream
That whispered with delight to be its pillow.

"As onenamoured is upborne in dream
O'er lily-paven lakes, mid silvermist,
To wondrous music, so this shape might seem

"Partly totread the waves with feet which kissed
The dancing foam; partly toglide along
The air which roughened the moist amethyst,

"Or thefaint morning beams that fell among
The trees, or the soft shadows ofthe trees;
And her feet, ever to the ceaseless song

"Of leaves,and winds, and waves, and birds, and bees,
And falling drops, movedin a measure new
Yet sweet, as on the summer evening breeze,

"Upfrom the lake a shape of golden dew
Between two rocks, athwart therising moon,
Dances i' the wind, where never eagle flew;

"Andstill her feet, no less than the sweet tune
To which they moved,seemed as they moved to blot
The thought of him who gazed on them;and soon

"All that was, seemed as if it had been not;
And all thegazer's mind was strewn beneath
Her feet like embers; and she,thought by thought,

"Trampled its sparks into the dust of death;
As day upon the threshold of the east
Treads out the lamps ofnight, until the breath

"Of darkness re-illumine even theleast
Of heaven's living eyes--like day she came,
Making the nighta dream; and ere she ceased

"To move, as one between desire andshame
Suspended, I said--If, as it doth seem,
Thou comest from therealm without a name

"Into this valley of perpetual dream,
Showwhence I came, and where I am, and why--
Pass not away upon thepassing stream.

"Arise and quench thy thirst, was her reply.
Andas a shut lily stricken by the wand
Of dewy morning's vitalalchemy,

"I rose; and, bending at her sweet command,
Touched withfaint lips the cup she raised,
And suddenly my brain became asand

"Where the first wave had more than half erased
The track ofdeer on desert Labrador;
Whilst the wolf, from which they fledamazed,

"Leaves his stamp visibly upon the shore,
Until thesecond burst;--so on my sight
Burst a new vision, never seenbefore,

"And the fair shape waned in the coming light,
As veil byveil the silent splendour drops
From Lucifer, amid thechrysolite

"Of sunrise, ere it tinge the mountain-tops;
And asthe presence of that fairest planet,
Although unseen, is felt by onewho hopes

"That his day's path may end as he began it,
In thatstar's smile, whose light is like the scent
Of a jonquil when eveningbreezes fan it,

"Or the soft note in which his dear lament
TheBrescian shepherd breathes, or the caress
That turned his wearyslumber to content;

"Of him who from the lowest depths ofhell,
Through every paradise and through all glory,
Love ledserene, and who returned to tell

"The words of hate and awe; thewondrous story
How all things are transfigured except Love;
Fordeaf as is a sea, which wrath makes hoary,

"The world can hear notthe sweet notes that move
The sphere whose light is melody tolovers--
A wonder worthy of his rhyme.--The grove

"Grew densewith shadows to its inmost covers,
The earth was gray with phantoms,and the air
Was peopled with dim forms, as when there hovers

"Aflock of vampire-bats before the glare
Of the tropic sun, bringing,ere evening,
Strange night upon some Indian isle;--thuswere

"Phantoms diffused around; and some did fling
Shadows ofshadows, yet unlike themselves,
Behind them; some like eaglets on thewing

"Were lost in the white day; others like elves
Danced in athousand unimagined shapes
Upon the sunny streams and grassyshelves;

"And others sate chattering like restless apes
On vulgarhands, . . .
Some made a cradle of the ermined capes

"Of kinglymantles; some across the tiar
Of pontiffs sate like vultures; othersplayed
Under the crown which girt with empire

"A baby's or anidiot's brow, and made
Their nests in it. The old anatomies
Satehatching their bare broods under the shade

"Of daemon wings, andlaughed from their dead eyes
To reassume the delegatedpower,
Arrayed in which those worms did monarchize,

"Who madethis earth their charnel. Others more
Humble, like falcons, sate uponthe fist
Of common men, and round their heads did soar;

"Or likesmall gnats and flies, as thick as mist
On evening marches,thronged about the brow
Of lawyers, statesmen, priest andtheorist;--

"And others, like discoloured flakes of snow
Onfairest bosoms and the sunniest hair,
Fell, and were melted by theyouthful glow

"Which they extinguished; and like tears theywere
A veil to those from whose faint lids they rained
In drops ofsorrow. I became aware

"Of whence those forms proceeded which thusstained
The track in which we moved. After brief space,
From everyform the beauty slowly waned;

"From every firmest limb and fairestface
The strength and freshness fell like dust, and left
The actionand the shape without the grace

"Of life. The marble brow of youthwas cleft
With care; and in those eyes where once hopeshone,
Desire, like a lioness bereft

"Of her last cub, glared ereit died; each one
Of that great crowd sent forth incessantly
Theseshadows, numerous as the dead leaves blown

"In autumn evening froma poplar tree.
Each like himself and like each other were
At first;but some distorted seemed to be

"Obscure clouds, moulded by thecasual air;
And of this stuff the car's creative ray
Wrought allthe busy phantoms that were there,

"As the sun shapes the clouds;thus on the way
Mask after mask fell from the countenance
And formof all; and long before the day

"Was old, the joy which waked likeheaven's glance
The sleepers in the oblivious valley, died;
Andsome grew weary of the ghastly dance,

"And fell, as I have fallen,by the wayside;--
Those soonest from whose forms most shadowspassed,
And least of strength and beauty did abide.

"Then, whatis life? I cried.'--