This Hermione absorbed The lustre of the land and ocean, 'I ask no bauble miniature, Shorn from her comely head, And singers of her fame Who is their Muse and dame. 'Higher, dear swallows! mind not what I say. Ah! heedless how the weak are strong, Say, was it just, In thee to frame, in me to trust, Thou to the Syrian couldst belong? 'I am of a lineage That each for each doth fast engage; 'Once I dwelt apart, Now I live with all; As shepherd's lamp on far hill-side 'Now, deceived, thou wanderest And my kindred come to soothe me. Unveils thy form. Out of the forest way Forth paced it yesterday; And when I sat by the watercourse, It throbbed up from the brook. 'River and rose and crag and bird, Frost and sun and eldest night, To me their aid preferred, To me their comfort plight; "Courage! we are thine allies, And with this hint be wise, The chains of kind The distant bind; Deed thou doest she must do, And autumn's sunlit festivals, To music, and to music's thought, She shall find thee, and be found. Come to us herself to meet."' INITIAL, DÆMONIC, AND CELESTIAL LOVE. I. THE INITIAL LOVE. VENUS, when her son was lost, Shod like a traveller for haste; With malice dared me to proclaim him, Boy no more, he wears all coats, Leave his weeds and heed his eyes, In the pit of his eye's a spark Would bring back day if it were dark; And, if I tell you all my thought, Though I comprehend it not, In those unfathomable orbs Every function he absorbs ; Doth eat, and drink, and fish, and shoot, Undaunted are their courages, They are his steeds, and not his feature; Restless, predatory; hasting; And they pounce on other eyes As lions on their prey; And round their circles is writ, Love - love love-love. He lives in his eyes; There doth digest, and work, and spin, The glance that to their glance opposes, As if it were a living root; The pulse of hands will make him mute; With all his force he gathers balms Into those wise, thrilling palms. Cupid is a casuist, A mystic and a cabalist, - And for strange coincidence. But it touches his quick heart When Fate by omens takes his part, And chance-dropped hints from Nature's sphere Deeply soothe his anxious ear. Heralds high before him run ; He has ushers many a one; He spreads his welcome where he goes, |