With lip and finger signs that said, I must not strive as yet to break The silence, till my strength should be Enough to leave my accents free. And then her hand on mine she laid, And smooth'd the pillow for my head, And stole along on tiptoe tread, And gently oped the door, and spake In whispers - ne'er was voice so sweet! Even music follow'd her light feet. But those she call'd were not awake, And she went forth; but, ere she pass'd, Another look on me she cast, Another sign she made, to say, That I had nought to fear, that all Were near at my command or call, And she would not delay Her due return: - while she was gone, Methought I felt too much alone." XX 'She came with mother and with sire- - 820 830 840 850 Sent me forth to the wilderness, Bound, naked, bleeding, and alone, To pass the desert to a throne, What mortal his own doom may guess? Let none despond, let none despair! To-morrow the Borysthenes May see our coursers graze at ease Upon his Turkish bank, and never Had I such welcome for a river As I shall yield when safely there. Comrades, good night!' The Hetman threw 860 PROMETHEUS [Publ. 1816] TITAN! to whose immortal eyes Which speaks but in its loneliness, And then is jealous lest the sky Should have a listener, nor will sigh Until its voice is echoless. Titan! to thee the strife was given Between the suffering and the will, Which torture where they cannot kill; And the inexorable Heaven, And the deaf tyranny of Fate, The ruling principle of Hate, Which for its pleasure doth create The things it may annihilate, Refused thee even the boon to die: The wretched gift eternity Was thine And thou hast borne it well. Thy Godlike crime was to be kind, In the endurance, and repulse Of thine impenetrable Spirit, 10 20 30 |