Drawn to its gaze with troubled whirr,
As by the thread of falconer.

As 'twere to feed, on slanting wings
They drop within the serpent's glare:
Eyes flashing fire in burning rings
Which spread into the dazzled air;
They flutter in the glittering coils;
The charmer dreads the serpent's toils.

While Music swims away in death

Man's spell is passing to his slaves:
The snake feeds on the charmer's breath,
The vulture screams, the parrot raves,
The lone hyena laughs and howls,
The tiger from the jungle growls.

Then mounts the eagle-flame-flecked folds Belt its proud plumes; a feather falls:

He hears the death-cry, he beholds

The king-bird in the serpent's thralls,

He looks with terror on the feud,—
And the sun shines through dripping blood.

The deadly spell a moment gone

Birds, from a distant Paradise,

Strike the winged signal and have flown,

Trailing rich hues through azure skies:

The serpent falls; like demon wings

The far-out-branching cedar swings.

The wood swims round; the pool and skies Have met; the death-drops down that cheek Fall faster; for the serpent's eyes

Grow human, and the charmer's seek.

A gaze like man's directs the dart

Which now is buried at his heart.

The monarch of the world is cold:
The charm he bore has passed away:

The serpent gathers up its fold

To wind about its human prey. The red mouth darts a dizzy sting,

And clenches the eternal ring.

AUBREY DE VERE

Born 1814

SONG

When I was young, I said to Sorrow,
"Come, and I will play with thee":
He is near me now all day;
And at night returns to say,
"I will come again to-morrow,
I will come and stay with thee."

Through the woods we walk together;
His soft footsteps rustle nigh me;
To shield an unregarded head,
He hath built a winter shed;

And all night in rainy weather,
I hear his gentle breathings by me.

FROM "ODE ON THE ASCENT OF THE ALPS"

All night as in my dreams I lay

The shout of torrents without number
Was in my ears-" Away, away,

No time have we for slumber!
The star-beams in our eddies play-
The moon is set: away, away!"
And round the hills in tumult borne

Through echoing caves and gorges rocking,

The voices of the night and morn

Are crying louder in their scorn,

My tedious languor mocking.

Alas! in vain man's wearied limbs would rise

To join in elemental ecstasies!

"But thou, O Muse, our heavenly mate,

Unclogged art thou by fleshly weight!
Ascend; upbearing my desire

Among the mountains higher and higher.
Leap from the glen upon the forest-

Leap from the forest on the snow:

And while from snow to cloud thou soarest
Look back on me below:

Where from the glacier bursts the river

With iron clang, pursue it ever;

Where Eagles through the tempest break,
Float forward in their viewless wake;
Where sunbeams gild the icy spire

Fling from thy tresses fire on fire."

I spake-Behold her o'er the broad lake flying:
Like a great Angel missioned to bestow
Some boon on men beneath in sadness lying:
The waves are murmuring silver murmurs low:
Beneath the curdling wind

Green through the shades the waters rush and roll,
(Or whitened only by the unfrequent shoal)
Till two dark hills, with darker yet behind,
Confront them,-purple mountains almost black,
Each behind each self-folded and withdrawn
Beneath the umbrage of yon cloudy rack—
That orange gleam! 'tis dawn!

Onward! the swan's flight with the eagle's blending,
On, winged Muse; still forward and ascending!

That mighty sweep, one orbit of her flight,
Has overcurved the mountain's barrier height:
She sinks, she speeds on prosperous wing prevailing,
(Broad lights below and changeful shadows sailing)
Over a vale upon whose breadth may shine

Not noontide suns alone, but suns of even,
Warming the gray fields in their soft decline,

The green streams flushing with the hues of heaven.

с