“Of sunrise, ere it tinge the mountain tops; And as the presence of that fairest planet, Although unseen, is felt by one who hopes

"That his day's path may end, as he began it, In that star's smile whose light is like the

scent

Of a jonquil when evening breezes fan it,

"Or the soft note in which his dear lament The Brescian shepherd breathes, or the caress That turned his weary slumber to content,

"So knew I in that light's severe excess The presence of that Shape which on the stream Moved, as I moved along the wilderness,

"More dimly than a day-appearing dream, The ghost of a forgotten form of sleep, A light of heaven whose half-extinguished beam

"Through the sick day, in which we wake to

weep,

Glimmers, forever sought, forever lost;

So did that Shape its obscure tenor keep

"Beside my path, as silent as a ghost.

But the new Vision, and the cold bright car, With solemn speed and stunning music, crossed

"The forest; and, as if from some dread war Triumphantly returning, the loud million Fiercely extolled the fortune of her star.

"A moving arch of victory, the vermilion And green and azure plumes of Iris had Built high over her wind-winged pavilion;

"And underneath ethereal glory clad
The wilderness; and far before her flew
The tempest of the splendor, which forbade

The crew

"Shadow to fall from leaf and stone. Seemed in that light, like atomies to dance Within a sunbeam. Some upon the new

"Embroidery of flowers, that did enhance The grassy vesture of the desert, played, Forgetful of the chariot's swift advance;

"Others stood gazing, till within the shade Of the great mountain its light left them dim; Others outspeeded it; and others made

"Circles around it, like the clouds that swim Round the high moon in a bright sea of air; And more did follow, with exulting hymn,

"The chariot and the captives fettered there;
But all like bubbles on an eddying flood
Fell into the same track at last, and were

"Borne onward. I among the multitude Was swept.

long;

Me sweetest flowers delayed not

Me not the shadow nor the solitude;

"Me not that falling stream's Lethean song; Me not the phantom of that early Form Which moved upon its motion; but among

"The thickest billows of that living storm.
I plunged, and bared my bosom to the clime
Of that cold light, whose airs too soon deform.

"Before the chariot had begun to climb The opposing steep of that mysterious dell, Behold a wonder worthy of the rhyme

"Of him who from the lowest depths of hell, Through every paradise and through all glory, Love led serene, and who returned to tell

"The words of hate and awe,- the wondrous

story

How all things are transfigured except Love;
For deaf as is a sea which wrath makes hoary,

"The world can hear not the sweet notes that

move

The sphere whose light is melody to lovers,
A wonder worthy of his rhyme. The grove

"Grew dense with shadows to its inmost covers; The earth was gray with phantoms; and the

air

Was peopled with dim forms, as when there hovers

464 early aëry, Forman conj.

472 whom, Rossetti.

475 awe, Boscombe MS. || care, Mrs. Shelley, 1824.

"A flock of vampire-bats before the glare Of the tropic sun, bringing, ere evening,

Strange night upon some Indian isle. Thus were

"Phantoms diffused around; and some did fling Shadows of shadows, yet unlike themselves, Behind them; some like eaglets on the wing

"Were lost in the white day; others like elves Danced in a thousand unimagined shapes Upon the sunny streams and grassy shelves;

"And others sate chattering like restless apes On vulgar hands,

Some made a cradle of the ermined capes

"Of kingly mantles; some across the tiar Of pontiffs sate like vultures; others played Under the crown which girt with empire

"A baby's or an idiot's brow, and made Their nests in it. The old anatomies

Sate hatching their bare broods under the shade

"Of demon wings, and laughed from their dead eyes To reassume the delegated power,

Arrayed in which those worms did monarchize

"Who made this earth their charnel. Others more Humble, like falcons, sate upon the fist

Of common men, and round their heads did soar;

486 isle, Boscombe MS. || vale, Mrs. Shelley, 1824.

497 sate like vultures, Boscombe MS. || rode, like demons, Mrs. Shelley, 1824.

"Or like small gnats and flies, as thick as mist On evening marshes, thronged about the brow Of lawyers, statesmen, priest and theorist;

"And others, like discolored flakes of snow, On fairest bosoms and the sunniest hair, Fell, and were melted by the youthful glow

"Which they extinguished; and, like tears, they

were

A veil to those from whose faint lids they rained
In drops of sorrow.
I became aware

"Of whence those forms proceeded which thus

stained

The track in which we moved.

After brief space,

From every form the beauty slowly waned;

"From every firmest limb and fairest face The strength and freshness fell like dust, and left

The action and the shape without the grace

"Of life. The marble brow of youth was cleft

With care; and in those eyes where once hope

shone,

Desire, like a lioness bereft

"Of her last cub, glared ere it died; each one Of that great crowd sent forth incessantly These shadows, numerous as the dead leaves blown 510 lawyer, statesman, Rossetti.

515 those eyes, Rossetti conj.