Classic Poem

Wide o'er the waters rose a wail of woe
With a fierce shout of exultation twined —
For chained to a dark rock, rough and high, the sea
Was loathly yielding back to land, — there stood —
Arrayed in Paradisal purity
Alone, that meek and innocent angel-maid; —
The monster wading greedily through the waves,
Her to devour; — the angels, some aghast,
Exulting some; her sister as half-dead
Fell fainting from her seat; the light alone
Of falling stars, with blinks of lightning mixed,
Lamping the red horizon fitfully.

Midway between the rock and sea we met;
And though the creature bellowing would have fled,
And have defiled the eye of light no more,
Yet was I there to slay as well as save.
The lance of light I couched; and straight my steed,
Who knew instinctive all his dread devoir,
Drove on like an inevitable storm; —
The weight behind propelled the point before
Through the whole monstrous mass, till in the heart,
Quivering it stood, triumphant. Down then dropped
The soulless corse.

The beauteous captive's bonds
I, instant, burst, and wrapt her sacred limbs,
In the same robes I wore — of golden web
And azure wove; for forth I sped at first
Of conquest confident, mine armour dight
With trophies rich beseeming such event; —
And on the rock where long she swooning lay,
Though conscious she was saved from direst death,
I laid her, perfect in pure loveliness,
And in that garb of glory.

Then there came
A voice, as of a star-cloud in the sky,
Approving, and all blessing I had done;
Formed, too, beneath the cloud, a rainbow bright;
From whose arch, falling as in circular wind,
And in diminishing spires, this bird of light,
The sign and augury of peace divine,
God -missioned, hovered round me for a time
Then nestled in my bosom — as ye see.

But not so from the orb, where still remained
Those recreant spirits who, with loud lament,
Wept their extinguished god; him to revive
Striving with all their strength. In vain they strove.

Now, lest the venomous vapours of his corpse
Should the whole sphere impest, it was decreed
By crown alike and lieges, all alarmed,
To offer to the soul of the dead beast
His body as a solemn holocaust; —
Nought else like worthy of such sacrifice.
With a vast mass of pompous rites, the Queen,
In sordid robes of false humility,
And all her proudest subjects, head declined, —
In mournful train, upon a mighty mound
Upreared by the seaside, the heapy corpse
Of the terrific slain laid out; — and balked
In their last complot, lo! another seized
Their souls — instinct with hate more murderous still —
Mine own destruction.

Me, where I remained,
Protecting her I honoured, they approached,
Beseeching I would witness the last rites
And public incremation of the dead,
In proof that I with them were reconciled,
Ere they for aye departed.

This I did —
Knowing full well their most recondite sins
And secretest intentions; they the while
Unknowing wholly mine.