Poems Lyrical and Dramatic | ||
184
TO BEATRICE.
------ “then he left me
And gave himself to others” ------ [OMITTED]
“Such depths he fell that all device was short
Of his preserving save that he should view
The children of perdition.”
—Carey's Dante, Purgatory, Canto XXX.
And gave himself to others” ------ [OMITTED]
“Such depths he fell that all device was short
Of his preserving save that he should view
The children of perdition.”
—Carey's Dante, Purgatory, Canto XXX.
I.
To-day I called thy face up from the grave,
The grave of grief where I had buried it,
And with old threads of memory newly knit
The features sweet that made my soul a slave.
The grave of grief where I had buried it,
And with old threads of memory newly knit
The features sweet that made my soul a slave.
The noble courtesy that never gave
Too little or too much, the smiles that flit
O'er marble brows like a fair poem writ,
The clear Greek face a sculptor's hand might grave.
Too little or too much, the smiles that flit
O'er marble brows like a fair poem writ,
The clear Greek face a sculptor's hand might grave.
185
Then swift I felt a keen and piercing pain;
As he who, bitten of the serpent's fang,
A moment stood, and straight to ashes fell;
As he who, bitten of the serpent's fang,
A moment stood, and straight to ashes fell;
Or like those others 'neath the scalding rain
And sleet of fire the Tuscan poet sang,
Lying upon the “burning marl” of Hell.
And sleet of fire the Tuscan poet sang,
Lying upon the “burning marl” of Hell.
II.
There too the poet marked a fiery snake
Transfix a spirit with a sudden stroke:
Flat lay the worm, while the wound spouted smoke,
And each eyed each, as gazing ne'er would slake.
Transfix a spirit with a sudden stroke:
Flat lay the worm, while the wound spouted smoke,
And each eyed each, as gazing ne'er would slake.
Then 'gan each several limb of him to quake,
And a most hideous change in each awoke,
And slowly o'er their vital members broke,
As changes o'er a ghastly vision break,
And a most hideous change in each awoke,
And slowly o'er their vital members broke,
As changes o'er a ghastly vision break,
For the snake rose up, as the man fell down,
Branched into legs and blossomed forth with ears:
The man that was fled hissing in a trice.
Branched into legs and blossomed forth with ears:
The man that was fled hissing in a trice.
186
Tuscan, my heart confirms thy truth's renown,
That kissing serpents changed to one appears,
Like virtue with long gazing upon vice.
That kissing serpents changed to one appears,
Like virtue with long gazing upon vice.
Poems Lyrical and Dramatic | ||