The Flood of Thessaly The Girl of Provence, and Other Poems. By Barry Cornwall [i.e. Bryan Waller Procter] |
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CONCLUSION. |
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 | The Flood of Thessaly |  |
CONCLUSION.
Farewell!—The bars which hang around our prison
Are nigh dissolved: The sun hath set and risen
Again, and flung new morning on my world.
The aspect of the future is all wonder:
Innocuous lightnings, unallied to thunder,
Are every where in sport lustrously hurled.
Are nigh dissolved: The sun hath set and risen
Again, and flung new morning on my world.
The aspect of the future is all wonder:
Innocuous lightnings, unallied to thunder,
Are every where in sport lustrously hurled.
A Vision of the Deep, of Earth and Heaven,
Is opened on me,—and my sight is driven
Amongst the tombs and towers of men to be:
Eternity flows back with all her fountains,
And scythed Time lays bare the horizon mountains,
That hide the world to come even from thee.
Is opened on me,—and my sight is driven
Amongst the tombs and towers of men to be:
Eternity flows back with all her fountains,
And scythed Time lays bare the horizon mountains,
That hide the world to come even from thee.
154
I see a Paradise where peerless flowers
Laugh in perpetual light, and crystal bowers
Fashioned for lovers whispers always sweet;
And rich pavilions by the green woods shaded,
And airy shapes whose bows are violet-braided,
And forest walks trodden by delicate feet.
Laugh in perpetual light, and crystal bowers
Fashioned for lovers whispers always sweet;
And rich pavilions by the green woods shaded,
And airy shapes whose bows are violet-braided,
And forest walks trodden by delicate feet.
I see the lion and the lamb together,
The white dove hiding by the falcon's feather,
And the fierce vulture near his victim lie:
I see the peasant and the prince adorning
Equality and peace: I hear the warning
Of Earth, loud-telling her futurity.
The white dove hiding by the falcon's feather,
And the fierce vulture near his victim lie:
I see the peasant and the prince adorning
Equality and peace: I hear the warning
Of Earth, loud-telling her futurity.
I see the Deep, and midst its caverns hoary,
Gold, helmets, statues, famous once in story,
And jewels brighter than in Ormus' mine:
I see the shadows of the Deep (its daughters)
Floating afar amongst the azure waters,
Or streaming by my eyes in dance divine.
Gold, helmets, statues, famous once in story,
And jewels brighter than in Ormus' mine:
I see the shadows of the Deep (its daughters)
Floating afar amongst the azure waters,
Or streaming by my eyes in dance divine.
155
And in the air I see illustrious treasures
(On summits higher than the eagle measures)
Of amethystine light, and rainbow shapes;
And voices touch my ear, like running rivers
When first the Spirit of the Spring delivers
The world, and Winter like a dream escapes.
(On summits higher than the eagle measures)
Of amethystine light, and rainbow shapes;
And voices touch my ear, like running rivers
When first the Spirit of the Spring delivers
The world, and Winter like a dream escapes.
And now, a cloud, so vast no thought may span it,
Comes travelling on, and—as when some huge planet
Doth deluge the next orb with black eclipse,
It overshadoweth the world: Its hour
Is come—is gone, like the wild Bacchant's power,
Who dies with the bright frenzy on her lips.—
Comes travelling on, and—as when some huge planet
Doth deluge the next orb with black eclipse,
It overshadoweth the world: Its hour
Is come—is gone, like the wild Bacchant's power,
Who dies with the bright frenzy on her lips.—
—'Tis past:—and the wide scenes are gone for ever:
The past like some slow-fading lamp doth quiver:
And in the present only doth my soul
Live, like a spirit,—by the tempest shaken,
Yet full of that bright strength that shall awaken
The world from error, and its blind controul.—
The past like some slow-fading lamp doth quiver:
And in the present only doth my soul
Live, like a spirit,—by the tempest shaken,
Yet full of that bright strength that shall awaken
The world from error, and its blind controul.—
156
Farewell!—Ever the same, thy friend, thy lover,
Boccaccio liveth. Though the wide world over
Fate shall exile him, yet no change shall bend
His courage, or resolving firmly taken:
But, though by every friend and hope forsaken,
Still shall Boccaccio be thy hope, thy friend.
Boccaccio liveth. Though the wide world over
Fate shall exile him, yet no change shall bend
His courage, or resolving firmly taken:
But, though by every friend and hope forsaken,
Still shall Boccaccio be thy hope, thy friend.
Thy home lies far away: but every feature
Of thy soft beauty, thou imperial creature,
Within my heart of hearts will I retain:
Thy fortunes and mine own are far divided;
Thine to a throned chair, by duty guided,
Shines fair—Away, unto the sunny Spain!
Of thy soft beauty, thou imperial creature,
Within my heart of hearts will I retain:
Thy fortunes and mine own are far divided;
Thine to a throned chair, by duty guided,
Shines fair—Away, unto the sunny Spain!
Perhaps, with somewhat of my old emotion,
My eye may glance at times across the ocean,
And through the cloud-fed billows when they flee
To Heav'n, and through the phantom-peopled ether,
I may behold thee still,—wandering hither
An exile from thy olive shores,—to me.
My eye may glance at times across the ocean,
And through the cloud-fed billows when they flee
To Heav'n, and through the phantom-peopled ether,
I may behold thee still,—wandering hither
An exile from thy olive shores,—to me.
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And should I see thee on the amorous waters
Treading with white feet bare, as once the daughters
Of wing'd magicians could by some fine spell,
I'll clasp thee, beauty of the world!—though madness
Rain down, or dazzling death, or endless sadness
Cling like remorse to me.—Farewell, farewell!—
Treading with white feet bare, as once the daughters
Of wing'd magicians could by some fine spell,
I'll clasp thee, beauty of the world!—though madness
Rain down, or dazzling death, or endless sadness
Cling like remorse to me.—Farewell, farewell!—
| The Flood of Thessaly | |