By doubt, propelled thee to the fatal shore; Thou found'st-and I forgive thee-here thou art- "But thou, though capable of sternest deed, Wert kind as resolute, and good as brave; And he, whose power restores thee, hath decreed "No spectre greets me,-no vain shadow this; 55 60 Jove frown'd in heaven; the conscious Parcæ threw 65 "This visage tells me that my doom is past; Nor should the change be mourned, even if the joys 'Ah, wherefore ?-Did not Hercules by force Wrest from the guardian monster of the tomb Alcestis, a reamimated corse, 75 80 Given back to dwell on earth in vernal bloom? "The gods to us are merciful-and they Yet further may relent; for mightier far 85 Than strength of nerve and sinew, or the sway Is love-though oft to agony distrest, And though his favourite seat be feeble woman's breast. M "But if thou goest, 1 follow- "Peace," he said She looked upon him and was calmed and cheered; The ghastly colour from his lips had fled; And fields invested with purpureal gleams, Climes which the sun, who sheds the brightest day Who from ignoble games and revelry Could draw, when we had parted, vain delight, "And while my youthful peers, before my eyes, 115 Prepared themselves for glorious enterprise Chieftains and kings in council were detained, “The wished-for wind was given :-I then revolved The oracle upon the silent sea; 120 And, if no worthier led the way, resolved That, of a thousand vessels, mine should be 125 Mine the first blood that tinged the Trojan sand. "Yet bitter, ofttimes bitter, was the pang When of thy loss I thought, beloved wife; On thee too fondly did my memory hang, And on the joys we shared in mortal life,— 130 The paths which we had trod-these fountains,-flowers; "But should suspense permit the foe to cry, 'Behold, they tremble !-haughty their array, Yet of their number no one dares to die'?In soul I swept the indignity away: 135 Old frailties then recurred:--but lofty thought, In act embodied, my deliverance wrought. "And thou, though strong in love, art all too weak Round the dear shade she would have clung-'tis vain : The hours are past,-too brief had they been years; And him no mortal effort can detain : Swift, toward the realms that know not earthly day, 155 He through the portal takes his silent way, Thus, all in vain exhorted and reproved, 160 Yet tears to human suffering are due; 165 Are mourned by man, and not by man alone, As fondly he believes.-Upon the side 170 As men's have grown from sudden fears: My limbs are bow'd, though not with toil, For they have been a dungeon's spoil, And mine has been the fate of those To whom the goodly earth and air Their belief with blood have seal'd, Dying as their father died, For the God their foes denied ; Of whom this wreck is left the last. II. There are seven pillars of Gothic mould |