1 Swift as a spirit hastening to his task 2 Of glory and of good, the Sun sprang forth 3 Rejoicing in his splendour, and the mask 4 Of darkness fell from the awakened Earth--- 5 The smokeless altars of the mountain snows 6 Flamed above crimson clouds, and at the birth. 7 Of light, the Ocean's orison arose, 8 To which the birds tempered their matin lay. 9 All flowers in field or forest which unclose 10 Their trembling eyelids to the kiss of day, 11 Swinging their censers in the element, 12 With orient incense lit by the new ray 13 Burned slow and inconsumably, and sent 14 Their odorous sighs up to the smiling air; 15 And, in succession due, did continent, 16 Isle, ocean, and all things that in them wear 17 The form and character of mortal mould, 18 Rise as the Sun their father rose, to bear 19 Their portion of the toil, which he of old 20 Took as his own, and then imposed on them: 21 But I, whom thoughts which must remain untold 22 Had kept as wakeful as the stars that gem 23 The cone of night, now they were laid asleep 24 Stretched my faint limbs beneath the hoary stem 25 Which an old chestnut flung athwart the steep 26 Of a green Apennine: before me fled 27 The night; behind me rose the day; the deep 28 Was at my feet, and Heaven above my head,--- 29 When a strange trance over my fancy grew 30 Which was not slumber, for the shade it spread 31 Was so transparent, that the scene came through 32 As clear as when a veil of light is drawn 33 O'er evening hills they glimmer; and I knew 34 That I had felt the freshness of that dawn 35 Bathe in the same cold dew my brow and hair, 36 And sate as thus upon that slope of lawn 37 Under the self-same bough, and heard as there 38 The birds, the fountains and the ocean hold 39 Sweet talk in music through the enamoured air, 40 And then a vision on my brain was rolled. 41 As in that trance of wondrous thought I lay, 42 This was the tenour of my waking dream:--- 43 Methought I sate beside a public way 44 Thick strewn with summer dust, and a great stream 45 Of people there was hurrying to and fro, 46 Numerous as gnats upon the evening gleam, 47 All hastening onward, yet none seemed to know 48 Whither he went, or whence he came, or why 49 He made one of the multitude, and so 50 Was borne amid the crowd, as through the sky 51 One of the million leaves of summer's bier; 52 Old age and youth, manhood and infancy, 53 Mixed in one mighty torrent did appear, 54 Some flying from the thing they feared, and some 55 Seeking the object of another's fear; 56 And others, as with steps towards the tomb, 57 Pored on the trodden worms that crawled beneath, 58 And others mournfully within the gloom 59 Of their own shadow walked, and called it death; 60 And some fled from it as it were a ghost, 61 Half fainting in the affliction of vain breath: 62 But more, with motions which each other crossed, 63 Pursued or shunned the shadows the clouds threw, 64 Or birds within the noonday aether lost, 65 Upon that path where flowers never grew,--- 66 And, weary with vain toil and faint for thirst, 67 Heard not the fountains, whose melodious dew 68 Out of their mossy cells forever burst; 69 Nor felt the breeze which from the forest told 70 Of grassy paths and wood-lawns interspersed 71 With overarching elms and caverns cold, 72 And violet banks where sweet dreams brood, but they 73 Pursued their serious folly as of old. 74 And as I gazed, methought that in the way 75 The throng grew wilder, as the woods of June 76 When the south wind shakes the extinguished day, 77 And a cold glare, intenser than the noon, 78 But icy cold, obscured with blinding light 79 The sun, as he the stars. Like the young moon--- 80 When on the sunlit limits of the night 81 Her white shell trembles amid crimson air, 82 And whilst the sleeping tempest gathers might--- 83 Doth, as the herald of its coming, bear 84 The ghost of its dead mother, whose dim form 85 Bends in dark aether from her infant's chair,--- 86 So came a chariot on the silent storm 87 Of its own rushing splendour, and a Shape 88 So sate within, as one whom years deform, 89 Beneath a dusky hood and double cape, 90 Crouching within the shadow of a tomb; 91 And o'er what seemed the head a cloud-like crape 92 Was bent, a dun and faint aethereal gloom 93 Tempering the light. Upon the chariot-beam 94 A Janus-visaged Shadow did assume 95 The guidance of that wonder-wingèd team; 96 The shapes which drew it in thick lightenings 97 Were lost:---I heard alone on the air's soft stream 98 The music of their ever-moving wings. 99 All the four faces of that Charioteer 100 Had their eyes banded; little profit brings 101 Speed in the van and blindness in the rear, 102 Nor then avail the beams that quench the sun,--- 103 Or that with banded eyes could pierce the sphere 104 Of all that is, has been or will be done; 105 So ill was the car guided---but it passed 106 With solemn speed majestically on. 107 The crowd gave way, and I arose aghast, 108 Or seemed to rise, so mighty was the trance, 109 And saw, like clouds upon the thunder-blast, 110 The million with fierce song and maniac dance 111 Raging around---such seemed the jubilee 112 As when to greet some conqueror's advance 113 Imperial Rome poured forth her living sea 114 From senate-house, and forum, and theatre, 115 When [.....] upon the free 116 Had bound a yoke, which soon they stooped to bear. 117 Nor wanted here the just similitude 118 Of a triumphal pageant, for where'er 119 The chariot rolled, a captive multitude 120 Was driven;---all those who had grown old in power 121 Or misery,---all who had their age subdued 122 By action or by suffering, and whose hour 123 Was drained to its last sand in weal or woe, 124 So that the trunk survived both fruit and flower;--- 125 All those whose fame or infamy must grow 126 Till the great winter lay the form and name 127 Of this green earth with them for ever low;--- 128 All but the sacred few who could not tame 129 Their spirits to the conquerors---but as soon 130 As they had touched the world with living flame, 131 Fled back like eagles to their native noon, 132 Or those who put aside the diadem 133 Of earthly thrones or gems [.....] 134 Were there, of Athens or Jerusalem, 135 Were neither mid the mighty captives seen, 136 Nor mid the ribald crowd that followed them, 137 Nor those who went before fierce and obscene. 138 The wild dance maddens in the van, and those 139 Who lead it---fleet as shadows on the green, 140 Outspeed the chariot, and without repose 141 Mix with each other in tempestuous measure 142 To savage music, wilder as it grows, 143 They, tortured by their agonizing pleasure, 144 Convulsed and on the rapid whirlwinds spun 145 Of that fierce Spirit, whose unholy leisure 146 Was soothed by mischief since the world begun, 147 Throw back their heads and loose their streaming hair; 148 And in their dance round her who dims the sun, 149 Maidens and youths fling their wild arms in air 150 As their feet twinkle; they recede, and now 151 Bending within each other's atmosphere, 152 Kindle invisibly---and as they glow, 153 Like moths by light attracted and repelled, 154 Oft to their bright destruction come and go, 155 Till like two clouds into one vale impelled, 156 That shake the mountains when their lightnings mingle 157 And die in rain---the fiery band which held 158 Their natures, snaps---while the shock still may tingle; 159 One falls and then another in the path 160 Senseless---nor is the desolation single, 161 Yet ere I can say where ---the chariot hath 162 Passed over them---nor other trace I find 163 But as of foam after the ocean's wrath 164 Is spent upon the desert shore;---behind, 165 Old men and women foully disarrayed, 166 Shake their gray hairs in the insulting wind, 167 And follow in the dance, with limbs decayed, 168 Seeking to reach the light which leaves them still 169 Farther behind and deeper in the shade. 170 But not the less with impotence of will 171 They wheel, though ghastly shadows interpose 172 Round them and round each other, and fulfil 173 Their work, and in the dust from whence they rose 174 Sink, and corruption veils them as they lie, 175 And past in these performs what [.....] in those. 176 Struck to the heart by this sad pageantry, 177 Half to myself I said---'And what is this? 178 Whose shape is that within the car? And why---' 179 I would have added---'is all here amiss?---' 180 But a voice answered---'Life!'---I turned, and knew 181 (O Heaven, have mercy on such wretchedness!) 182 That what I thought was an old root which grew 183 To strange distortion out of the hill side, 184 Was indeed one of those deluded crew, 185 And that the grass, which methought hung so wide 186 And white, was but his thin discoloured hair, 187 And that the holes he vainly sought to hide, 188 Were or had been eyes:---'If thou canst, forbear 189 To join the dance, which I had well forborne!' 190 Said the grim Feature (of my thought aware). 191 'I will unfold that which to this deep scorn 192 Led me and my companions, and relate 193 The progress of the pageant since the morn; 194 'If thirst of knowledge shall not then abate, 195 Follow it thou even to the night, but I 196 Am weary.'---Then like one who with the weight 197 Of his own words is staggered, wearily 198 He paused; and ere he could resume, I cried: 199 'First, who art thou?'---'Before thy memory, 200 'I feared, loved, hated, suffered, did and died, 201 And if the spark with which Heaven lit my spirit 202 Had been with purer nutriment supplied, 203 'Corruption would not now thus much inherit 204 Of what was once Rousseau,---nor this disguise 205 Stain that which ought to have disdained to wear it; 206 'If I have been extinguished, yet there rise 207 A thousand beacons from the spark I bore'--- 208 'And who are those chained to the car?'---'The wise, 209 'The great, the unforgotten,---they who wore 210 Mitres and helms and crowns, or wreaths of light, 211 Signs of thought's empire over thought---their lore 212 'Taught them not this, to know themselves their might 213 Could not repress the mystery within, 214 And for the morn of truth they feigned, deep night 215 'Caught them ere evening.'---'Who is he with chin 216 Upon his breast, and hands crossed on his chain?'--- 217 'The child of a fierce hour; he sought to win 218 'The world, and lost all that it did contain 219 Of greatness, in its hope destroyed; and more 220 Of fame and peace than virtue's self can gain 221 'Without the opportunity which bore 222 Him on its eagle pinions to the peak 223 From which a thousand climbers have before 224 'Fallen, as Napoleon fell.'---I felt my cheek 225 Alter, to see the shadow pass away, 226 Whose grasp had left the giant world so weak 227 That every pigmy kicked it as it lay; 228 And much I grieved to think how power and will 229 In opposition rule our mortal day, 230 And why God made irreconcilable 231 Good and the means of good; and for despair 232 I half disdained mine eyes' desire to fill 233 With the spent vision of the times that were 234 And scarce have ceased to be.---'Dost thou behold,' 235 Said my guide, 'those spoilers spoiled, Voltaire, 236 'Frederick, and Paul, Catherine, and Leopold, 237 And hoary anarchs, demagogues, and sage--- 238 [.....] names which the world thinks always old, 239 'For in the battle Life and they did wage, 240 She remained conqueror. I was overcome 241 By my own heart alone, which neither age, 242 'Nor tears, nor infamy, nor now the tomb 243 Could temper to its object.'---'Let them pass,' 244 I cried, 'the world and its mysterious doom 245 'Is not so much more glorious than it was, 246 That I desire to worship those who drew 247 New figures on its false and fragile glass 248 'As the old faded.'---'Figures ever new 249 Rise on the bubble, paint them as you may; 250 We have but thrown, as those before us threw, 251 'Our shadows on it as it passed away. 252 But mark how chained to the triumphal chair 253 The mighty phantoms of an elder day; 254 'All that is mortal of great Plato there 255 Expiates the joy and woe his master knew not; 256 The star that ruled his doom was far too fair, 257 'And life, where long that flower of Heaven grew not, 258 Conquered that heart by love, which gold, or pain, 259 Or age, or sloth, or slavery could subdue not. 260 'And near him walk the [.....] twain, 261 The tutor and his pupil, whom Dominion 262 Followed as tame as vulture in a chain. 263 'The world was darkened beneath either pinion 264 Of him whom from the flock of conquerors 265 Fame singled out for her thunder-bearing minion; 266 'The other long outlived-both woes and wars, 267 Throned in the thoughts of men, and still had kept 268 The jealous key of Truth's eternal doors, 269 'If Bacon's eagle spirit had not lept 270 Like lightning out of darkness---he compelled 271 The Proteus shape of Nature, as it slept 272 'To wake, and lead him to the caves that held 273 The treasure of the secrets of its reign. 274 See the great bards of elder time, who quelled 275 'The passions which they sung, as by their strain 276 May well be known: their living melody 277 Tempers its own contagion to the vein 278 'Of those who are infected with it---I 279 Have suffered what I wrote, or viler pain! 280 And so my words have seeds of misery--- 281 'Even as the deeds of others, not as theirs.' 282 And then he pointed to a company, 283 'Midst whom I quickly recognized the heirs 284 Of Caesar's crime, from him to Constantine; 285 The anarch chiefs, whose force and murderous snares 286 Had founded many a sceptre-bearing line, 287 And spread the plague of gold and blood abroad: 288 And Gregory and John, and men divine, 289 Who rose like shadows between man and God; 290 Till that eclipse, still hanging over heaven, 291 Was worshipped by the world o'er which they strode, 292 For the true sun it quenched---'Their power was given 293 But to destroy,' replied the leader:---'I 294 Am one of those who have created, even 295 'If it be but a world of agony.'--- 296 'Whence camest thou? and whither goest thou? 297 How did thy course begin?' I said, 'and why? 298 'Mine eyes are sick of this perpetual flow 299 Of people, and my heart sick of one sad thought--- 300 Speak!'---'Whence I am, I partly seem to know, 301 'And how and by what paths I have been brought 302 To this dread pass, methinks even thou mayst guess;--- 303 Why this should be, my mind can compass not; 304 'Whither the conqueror hurries me, still less;--- 305 But follow thou, and from spectator turn 306 Actor or victim in this wretchedness, 307 'And what thou wouldst be taught I then may learn 308 From thee. Now listen:---In the April prime, 309 When all the forest-tips began to burn 310 'With kindling green, touched by the azure clime 311 Of the young season, I was laid asleep 312 Under a mountain, which from unknown time 313 'Had yawned into a cavern, high and deep; 314 And from it came a gentle rivulet, 315 Whose water, like clear air, in its calm sweep 316 'Bent the soft grass, and kept for ever wet 317 The stems of the sweet flowers, and filled the grove 318 With sounds, which whoso hears must needs forget 319 'All pleasure and all pain, all hate and love, 320 Which they had known before that hour of rest; 321 A sleeping mother then would dream not of 322 'Her only child who died upon the breast 323 At eventide---a king would mourn no more 324 The crown of which his brows were dispossessed 325 'When the sun lingered o'er his ocean floor 326 To gild his rival's new prosperity. 327 Thou wouldst forget thus vainly to deplore 328 'Ills, which if ills can find no cure from thee, 329 The thought of which no other sleep will quell, 330 Nor other music blot from memory, 331 'So sweet and deep is the oblivious spell; 332 And whether life had been before that sleep 333 The Heaven which I imagine, or a Hell 334 'Like this harsh world in which I wake to weep, 335 I know not. I arose, and for a space 336 The scene of woods and waters seemed to keep, 337 'Though it was now broad day, a gentle trace 338 Of light diviner than the common sun 339 Sheds on the common earth, and all the place 340 'Was filled with magic sounds woven into one 341 Oblivious melody, confusing sense 342 Amid the gliding waves and shadows dun; 343 'And, as I looked, the bright omnipresence 344 Of morning through the orient cavern flowed, 345 And the sun's image radiantly intense 346 'Burned on the waters of the well that glowed 347 Like gold, and threaded all the forest's maze 348 With winding paths of emerald fire; there stood 349 'Amid the sun, as he amid the blaze 350 Of his own glory, on the vibrating 351 Floor of the fountain, paved with flashing rays, 352 'A Shape all light, which with one hand did fling 353 Dew on the earth, as if she were the dawn, 354 And the invisible rain did ever sing 355 'A silver music on the mossy lawn; 356 And still before me on the dusky grass, 357 Iris her many-coloured scarf had drawn: 358 'In her right hand she bore a crystal glass, 359 Mantling with bright Nepenthe; the fierce splendour 360 Fell from her as she moved under the mass 361 'Of the deep cavern, and with palms so tender, 362 Their tread broke not the mirror of its billow, 363 Glided along the river, and did bend her 364 'Head under the dark boughs, till like a willow 365 Her fair hair swept the bosom of the stream 366 That whispered with delight to be its pillow. 367 'As one enamoured is upborne in dream 368 O'er lily-paven lakes, mid silver mist, 369 To wondrous music, so this shape might seem 370 'Partly to tread the waves with feet which kissed 371 The dancing foam; partly to glide along 372 The air which roughened the moist amethyst, 373 'Or the faint morning beams that fell among 374 The trees, or the soft shadows of the trees; 375 And her feet, ever to the ceaseless song 376 'Of leaves, and winds, and waves, and birds, and bees, 377 And falling drops, moved in a measure new 378 Yet sweet, as on the summer evening breeze, 379 'Up from the lake a shape of golden dew 380 Between two rocks, athwart the rising moon, 381 Dances i'the wind, where never eagle flew; 382 'And still her feet, no less than the sweet tune 383 To which they moved, seemed as they moved to blot 384 The thoughts of him who gazed on them; and soon 385 'All that was, seemed as if it had been not; 386 And all the gazer's mind was strewn beneath 387 Her feet like embers; and she, thought by thought, 388 'Trampled its sparks into the dust of death; 389 As day upon the threshold of the east 390 Treads out the lamps of night, until the breath 391 'Of darkness re-illumine even the least 392 Of heaven's living eyes---like day she came, 393 Making the night a dream; and ere she ceased 394 'To move, as one between desire and shame 395 Suspended, I said---If, as it doth seem, 396 Thou comest from the realm without a name 397 'Into this valley of perpetual dream, 398 Show whence I came, and where I am, and why--- 399 Pass not away upon the passing stream. 400 'Arise and quench thy thirst, was her reply. 401 And as a shut lily stricken by the wand 402 Of dewy morning's vital alchemy, 403 'I rose; and, bending at her sweet command, 404 Touched with faint lips the cup she raised, 405 And suddenly my brain became as sand 406 'Where the first wave had more than half erased 407 The track of deer on desert Labrador; 408 Whilst the wolf, from which they fled amazed, 409 'Leaves his stamp visibly upon the shore, 410 Until the second bursts;---so on my sight 411 Burst a new vision, never seen before, 412 'And the fair shape waned in the coming light, 413 As veil by veil the silent splendour drops 414 From Lucifer, amid the chrysolite 415 'Of sunrise, ere it tinge the mountain-tops; 416 And as the presence of that fairest planet, 417 Although unseen, is felt by one who hopes 418 'That his day's path may end as he began it, 419 In that star's smile, whose light is like the scent 420 Of a jonquil when evening breezes fan it, 421 'Or the soft note in which his dear lament 422 The Brescian 1 shepherd breathes, or the caress 423 That turned his weary slumber to content; 424 'So knew I in that light's severe excess 425 The presence of that Shape which on the stream 426 Moved, as I moved along the wilderness, 427 'More dimly than a day-appearing dream, 428 The ghost of a forgotten form of sleep; 429 A light of heaven, whose half-extinguished beam 430 'Through the sick day in which we wake to weep 431 Glimmers, for ever sought, for ever lost; 432 So did that shape its obscure tenour keep 433 'Beside my path, as silent as a ghost; 434 But the new Vision, and the cold bright car, 435 With solemn speed and stunning music, crossed 436 'The forest, and as if from some dread war 437 Triumphantly returning, the loud million 438 Fiercely extolled the fortune of her star. 439 'A moving arch of victory, the vermilion 440 And green and azure plumes of Iris had 441 Built high over her wind-wingèd pavilion, 442 'And underneath aethereal glory clad 443 The wilderness, and far before her flew 444 The tempest of the splendour, which forbade 445 'Shadow to fall from leaf and stone; the crew 446 Seemed in that light, like atomies to dance 447 Within a sunbeam;---some upon the new 448 'Embroidery of flowers, that did enhance 449 The grassy vesture of the desert, played, 450 Forgetful of the chariot's swift advance; 451 'Others stood gazing, till within the shade 452 Of the great mountain its light left them dim; 453 Others outspeeded it; and others made 454 'Circles around it, like the clouds that swim 455 Round the high moon in a bright sea of air; 456 And more did follow, with exulting hymn, 457 'The chariot and the captives fettered there:--- 458 But all like bubbles on an eddying flood 459 Fell into the same track at last, and were 460 'Borne onward.---I among the multitude 461 Was swept---me, sweetest flowers delayed not long; 462 Me, not the shadow nor the solitude; 463 'Me, not that falling stream's Lethean song; 464 Me, not the phantom of that early Form 465 Which moved upon its motion---but among 466 'The thickest billows of that living storm 467 I plunged, and bared my bosom to the clime 468 Of that cold light, whose airs too soon deform. 469 'Before the chariot had begun to climb 470 The opposing steep of that mysterious dell, 471 Behold a wonder worthy of the rhyme 472 'Of him who from the lowest depths of hell, 473 Through every paradise and through all glory, 474 Love led serene, and who returned to tell 475 'The words of hate and awe; the wondrous story 476 How all things are transfigured except Love; 477 For deaf as is a sea, which wrath makes hoary, 478 'The world can hear not the sweet notes that move 479 The sphere whose light is melody to lovers--- 480 A wonder worthy of his rhyme.---The grove 481 'Grew dense with shadows to its inmost covers, 482 The earth was gray with phantoms, and the air 483 Was peopled with dim forms, as when there hovers 484 'A flock of vampire-bats before the glare 485 Of the tropic sun, bringing, ere evening, 486 Strange night upon some Indian isle;---thus were 487 'Phantoms diffused around; and some did fling 488 Shadows of shadows, yet unlike themselves, 489 Behind them; some like eaglets on the wing 490 'Were lost in the white day; others like elves 491 Danced in a thousand unimagined shapes 492 Upon the sunny streams and grassy shelves; 493 'And others sate chattering like restless apes 494 On vulgar hands, [.....] 495 Some made a cradle of the ermined capes 496 'Of kingly mantles; some across the tiar 497 Of pontiffs sate like vultures; others played 498 Under the crown which girt with empire 499 'A baby's or an idiot's brow, and made 500 Their nests in it. The old anatomies 501 Sate hatching their bare broods under the shade 502 'Of daemon wings, and laughed from their dead eyes 503 To reassume the delegated power, 504 Arrayed in which those worms did monarchize, 505 'Who made this earth their charnel. Others more 506 Humble, like falcons, sate upon the fist 507 Of common men, and round their heads did soar; 508 'Or like small gnats and flies, as thick as mist 509 On evening marshes, thronged about the brow 510 Of lawyers, statesmen, priest and theorist;--- 511 'And others, like discoloured flakes of snow 512 On fairest bosoms and the sunniest hair, 513 Fell, and were melted by the youthful glow 514 'Which they extinguished; and, like tears, they were 515 A veil to those from whose faint lids they rained 516 In drops of sorrow. I became aware 517 'Of whence those forms proceeded which thus stained 518 The track in which we moved. After brief space, 519 From every form the beauty slowly waned; 520 'From every firmest limb and fairest face 521 The strength and freshness fell like dust, and left 522 The action and the shape without the grace 523 'Of life. The marble brow of youth was cleft 524 With care; and in those eyes where once hope shone, 525 Desire, like a lioness bereft 526 'Of her last cub, glared ere it died; each one 527 Of that great crowd sent forth incessantly 528 These shadows, numerous as the dead leaves blown 529 'In autumn evening from a poplar tree. 530 Each like himself and like each other were 531 At first; but some distorted seemed to be 532 'Obscure clouds, moulded by the casual air; 533 And of this stuff the car's creative ray 534 Wrought all the busy phantoms that were there, 535 'As the sun shapes the clouds; thus on the way 536 Mask after mask fell from the countenance 537 And form of all; and long before the day 538 'Was old, the joy which waked like heaven's glance 539 The sleepers in the oblivious valley, died; 540 And some grew weary of the ghastly dance, 541 'And fell, as I have fallen, by the wayside;--- 542 Those soonest from whose forms most shadows passed, 543 And least of strength and beauty did abide. 544 'Then, what is life? I cried.'---