The Poetical Works of Thomas Pringle With A Sketch of his Life, by Leitch Ritchie |
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| V. | FYTTE V. |
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 | The Poetical Works of Thomas Pringle |  |
154
FYTTE V.
What there thou seest, fair creature! is thyself;
With thee it came and goes: but follow me,
And I will lead thee where no shadow stays
Thy coming.
Paradise Lost.
With thee it came and goes: but follow me,
And I will lead thee where no shadow stays
Thy coming.
Paradise Lost.
Learn by a mortal yearning to ascend
Towards a higher object.—Love was given,
Encouraged, sanctioned, chiefly for that end:
For this the passion to excess was driven—
That self might be annulled; her bondage prove
The fetters of a dream, opposed to love.
Wordsworth's Laodamia.
Towards a higher object.—Love was given,
Encouraged, sanctioned, chiefly for that end:
For this the passion to excess was driven—
That self might be annulled; her bondage prove
The fetters of a dream, opposed to love.
Wordsworth's Laodamia.
Issuing from that pensive vale,
Soon an alpine scene we hail,
Where Olympian peaks arise
Towering to the bright blue skies,
And a rock's romantic mound,
By a ruined temple crowned,
Overhangs the central tide
Whence fair Elfland's rivers glide.
—Girt by cliff and shaggy brake,
Softly lay that silent lake,
In the mountain's stern embrace
Sleeping in its simple grace,
With a pure and placid breast,
Like a dreaming child at rest.
Soon an alpine scene we hail,
Where Olympian peaks arise
Towering to the bright blue skies,
And a rock's romantic mound,
By a ruined temple crowned,
Overhangs the central tide
Whence fair Elfland's rivers glide.
—Girt by cliff and shaggy brake,
Softly lay that silent lake,
In the mountain's stern embrace
Sleeping in its simple grace,
With a pure and placid breast,
Like a dreaming child at rest.
Leaning o'er its lilied side,
Thus began my lovely Guide:
“Listen to a legend hoar
Of far-distant days of yore:
And, while I the story tell,
Ponder thou its purport well.
“When first this Eden of the deep,
Was wakened from chaotic sleep,
To be the destined dwelling-place
Of those yclept the Elfin race;
(Beings formed by nature free
From sin and sad mortality;
Yet by ties of mystic birth
Linked unto the sons of Earth;)
On that bright primeval morn,
She of Fays the eldest born,—
Physis erst by mortals named,
Later as Titania famed,—
Roaming through her natal Isle,
Came where yonder votive pile
(A temple reared to Solitude
By the young Naiads of the flood)
O'erlooks the wave. With wondering eye,
She sees what seems a downward sky
Stretching far its depths of blue,
With the stars dim-gleaming through,
Whene'er the sun his brightness shrouds
'Neath some veil of fleecy clouds,
And the shadows come and go
Athwart the liquid plain below.
—As she gazes, still, behold,
Marvels to her eyes unfold;
Massive rocks and towering mountains,
With their woods and sparkling fountains,
In the inverted landscape lie,
Pointing to a nether sky.
Thus began my lovely Guide:
“Listen to a legend hoar
Of far-distant days of yore:
And, while I the story tell,
Ponder thou its purport well.
155
Was wakened from chaotic sleep,
To be the destined dwelling-place
Of those yclept the Elfin race;
(Beings formed by nature free
From sin and sad mortality;
Yet by ties of mystic birth
Linked unto the sons of Earth;)
On that bright primeval morn,
She of Fays the eldest born,—
Physis erst by mortals named,
Later as Titania famed,—
Roaming through her natal Isle,
Came where yonder votive pile
(A temple reared to Solitude
By the young Naiads of the flood)
O'erlooks the wave. With wondering eye,
She sees what seems a downward sky
Stretching far its depths of blue,
With the stars dim-gleaming through,
Whene'er the sun his brightness shrouds
'Neath some veil of fleecy clouds,
And the shadows come and go
Athwart the liquid plain below.
—As she gazes, still, behold,
Marvels to her eyes unfold;
Massive rocks and towering mountains,
With their woods and sparkling fountains,
In the inverted landscape lie,
Pointing to a nether sky.
“Suddenly, with swan-like flight
Launching from the cliffy height,
On the buoyant air she springs,
(Scorns an elf the aid of wings,)
In the middle space upborne,
Like a cloudlet of the morn;
With her vesture floating free,
And her locks luxuriantly
Backward o'er her shoulders flung;
While her face and bosom young
Forward bend with fearless pride
To the fair illusive tide.
—Wherefore, in her downward track,
Starts the Fairy Virgin back—
And, again, with fond surprise,
Waveward casts her wistful eyes?
Lo! to meet her wildered gaze,
Upwards through the lucid maze
Swiftly glides a glorious creature,
Sister-like in form and feature;
In her modest maiden charms,
In her lovely locks and arms,
In her eyes and graceful mien,
An image of that Elfin Queen.
—Fair Physis smiles—and from the wave
The Form returns the smile she gave:
She spreads her arms—with winning grace
The Phantom offers her embrace:
But when she fondly strives to clasp
The beauteous Shade—it flies her grasp,
Amidst the broken billows lost;
And all the enchanting scene is tost
Fantastically, heaving wide
Athwart the bosom of the tide!
Launching from the cliffy height,
On the buoyant air she springs,
(Scorns an elf the aid of wings,)
156
Like a cloudlet of the morn;
With her vesture floating free,
And her locks luxuriantly
Backward o'er her shoulders flung;
While her face and bosom young
Forward bend with fearless pride
To the fair illusive tide.
—Wherefore, in her downward track,
Starts the Fairy Virgin back—
And, again, with fond surprise,
Waveward casts her wistful eyes?
Lo! to meet her wildered gaze,
Upwards through the lucid maze
Swiftly glides a glorious creature,
Sister-like in form and feature;
In her modest maiden charms,
In her lovely locks and arms,
In her eyes and graceful mien,
An image of that Elfin Queen.
—Fair Physis smiles—and from the wave
The Form returns the smile she gave:
She spreads her arms—with winning grace
The Phantom offers her embrace:
But when she fondly strives to clasp
The beauteous Shade—it flies her grasp,
Amidst the broken billows lost;
And all the enchanting scene is tost
Fantastically, heaving wide
Athwart the bosom of the tide!
“Abashed and sad, upon the strand
The virgin stood—when accents bland
Came, like sweet music on the wind,
From amaranthine groves behind:—
‘Grieve no longer, gentle Elf,
For that semblance of thyself!
All that meets the gaze below,
Like that shade an empty show
Formed to charm the finite sense,
Faileth from the grasp intense
Of creature longing for the love
That looks below — but lives above.
—Virgin! upward lift thine eye
Where the peak ascendeth high:
Lo! yon Mount of Vision towers
O'er Elysium's blissful bowers,
Where the flower of beauty bloweth,
Where the fruit immortal groweth.
Behold, I come thy path to guide
Up the mountain's rugged side,
Where for thee thy Lover waits
By the Enchanted Palace gates:
'Tis no shadow there that meets thee—
'Tis thy glorious bridegroom greets thee,
With that pure celestial love
Blessed Genii own above.’” [OMITTED]
The virgin stood—when accents bland
Came, like sweet music on the wind,
From amaranthine groves behind:—
157
For that semblance of thyself!
All that meets the gaze below,
Like that shade an empty show
Formed to charm the finite sense,
Faileth from the grasp intense
Of creature longing for the love
That looks below — but lives above.
—Virgin! upward lift thine eye
Where the peak ascendeth high:
Lo! yon Mount of Vision towers
O'er Elysium's blissful bowers,
Where the flower of beauty bloweth,
Where the fruit immortal groweth.
Behold, I come thy path to guide
Up the mountain's rugged side,
Where for thee thy Lover waits
By the Enchanted Palace gates:
'Tis no shadow there that meets thee—
'Tis thy glorious bridegroom greets thee,
With that pure celestial love
Blessed Genii own above.’” [OMITTED]
| The Poetical Works of Thomas Pringle | |