For the priest's true features he there has trac'dAnd he raises his purple mantle in haste,
To hide the tears fast rising;
While all on the Cæsar fix their eyes,
And the Minstrel's hero recognize,
And revere their Chief, God-prizing.
SEE, upon each other gazing,
Yon grey towers, their heads upraising
In the golden dawn, where swells
Hellespont, with rush and roar,
Through the proud gates evermore
Rolling of the Dardanelles.
Hark! the breaker bursting yonder,
How it roars the rocks above!
Asia it hath torn from Europe,
But no terrors hath for Love.
Yonder walls were Hero's dwelling,
And the old tradition, telling
Of Leander, haunts the place;
Fair was she as Hebe blushing,
And among the mountains rushing
See him lead the stormy chace.
Plighted are their hearts-but Fathers
Frown, and theirs are foe and stranger.
Sweet the fruit the bold hand gathers,
Hanging o'er the abyss of Danger.
On yon rock-tower, where the beating
Waves, advancing and retreating,
Fling on Sestos their white foam,
Gazing o'er "the ocean-river”*
Sate the Maiden, gazing ever,
Ever, on Leander's home.
Swiftly o'er the bridgeless waters
Fly her wishes-oh that they
Were a bark to waft him hither!-
Vain-yet LOVE hath found a way.
Love it was, whose silken thread
Through the Cretan mazes led—
Is the God less mighty now
Than when the fire-breath bulls he broke,
And bow'd their necks beneath the yoke
Of the adamantine plough?
Orpheus, though Hell's ninefold torrents
Roll'd in fire to bar his way,
From the sunless realms of Pluto
Rose with his Eurydice.
Aubrey de Vere" Search after Proserpine," &c. p. 97.
And-Leander's heart elated
With delight anticipated-
All on fire his eager blood-
Soon as daylight's fading glimmer
Dies away, the daring swimmer
Plunges in the Pontic flood.
With strong arm his way he urges
Onward-on-to that dear strand
Where the turret o'er the surges
Beckons him with lighted brand.
Happy!to the heart's soft pillow
Welcom'd from the warring billow,
Clasp'd to that confiding breast!
Bliss beyond all human measure,
Heaven on earth is in the treasure
To thy heart in secret press'd,
Till Aurora wake the lingerer
In his dream of extacy,
And from Love's soft bosom warn him
To the cold bed of the sea.
And thus thirty suns in gladness
Set and rise upon the madness
Of their sweet and stolen delight;
-Gleam of joyance unabiding!
Yet do their young hearts confiding
Dream a future all as bright.
Know you not that toil and peril
Are the charms that heighten bliss,
And the bough whose fruit is sweetest
Smiles above the precipice?
And Hesper and Aurora climb
The arch of heaven-but what is Time
To them, whose life is one long dream?
They see not-they-the leaf that falls,
Nor hear they from his northern halls
The winter ice-wind scream.
Yea! they welcome coming winter!
Happy, happy time-think they
Night, on swifter wings descending,
Lingers with more fond delay.
And the Scale in Heaven is steady,—
And the night and day already
Of one length-and rich in hope
Stood Hero watching from the tower
The steeds of Day, in that soft hour
When down the western heaven they slope.
And the sea was like a mirror.
The bright surface of the deep
Stirr'd not-not a wing of Zephyr
To disturb that crystal sleep.
Lo! the silver waves in motion,
Gay with dolphins. Nymphs of Ocean
On, in dim procession slow,
Are moving o'er the waters seen,
And Thetis, their majestic queen,
Is rising from below.*
They the love-rites saw-they only-
And the secret unrevealed
Rests with them: in magic silence
Hecate their lips hath sealed.+
With glad heart Hero looks upon
The sunshine sea-with flattering tone
And playful soothes the sunshine sea.
"Bright God! they say that thou beguilest,
That thine are false smiles when thou smilest:
Oh! they say false, bright God, of thee!
* Tum variæ comitum facies, immania cete,
Et senior Glauci chorus, Inousque Palæmon,
Tritonesque citi, Phorcique exercitus omnis.
Læva tenent Thetis, et Melite, Panopeaque virgo,
Nesæe, Spioque, Thaliaque, Cymodoceque.
+ Nox arcanis fidissimaTuque triceps Hecate.—
Nox et Diana quæ silentium regis, &c.
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