6. There our tent shall be the willow,
And mine arm shall be thy pillow:
Sounds and odours, sorrowful

Because they once were sweet, shall lull
Us to slumber deep and dull.

7. Ha! thy frozen pulses flutter.
With a love thou dar'st not utter.

Thou art murmuring-thou art weeping-
Is thine icy bosom leaping,

While my burning heart lies sleeping?

8. Kiss me-oh! thy lips are cold!
Round my neck thine arms enfold-
They are soft, but chill and dead;
And thy tears upon my head
Burn like points of frozen lead.

9. Hasten to the bridal bed-
Underneath the grave 'tis spread:
In darkness may our love be hid,
Oblivion be our coverlid-

We may rest, and none forbid.

10. Clasp me, till our hearts be grown
Like two lovers into one;

Till this dreadful transport may
Like a vapour fade away

In the sleep that lasts alway.

II. We may dream in that long sleep
That we are not those who weep;
Even as Pleasure dreams of thee,
Life-deserting Misery,

Thou mayst dream of her with me.

12. Let us laugh and make our mirth
At the shadows of the earth;
As dogs bay the moonlight clouds
Which, like spectres wrapped in shrouds,
Pass o'er night in multitudes.

13. All the wide world, beside us,
Show like multitudinous

Puppets passing from a scene;

What but mockery can they mean

Where I am-where thou hast been?

THE MASQUE OF ANARCHY.

1. As I lay asleep in Italy,

There came a voice from over the sea,
And with great power it forth led me
To walk in the visions of Poesy.

2. I met Murder on the way-
He had a mask like Castlereagh.
Very smooth he looked, yet grim;
Seven bloodhounds followed him.

3. All were fat; and well they might
Be in admirable plight,

For one by one, and two by two,
He tossed them human hearts to chew,
Which from his wide cloak he drew.

4. Next came Fraud, and he had on,
Like Lord Eldon, an ermine gown.
His big tears, for he wept well,
Turned to millstones as they fell;

5. And the little children who
Round his feet played to and fro,
Thinking every tear a gem,

Had their brains knocked out by them.

6. Clothed with the bible, as with light
And the shadows of the night,
Like Sidmouth next, Hypocrisy
On a crocodile came by.

7. And many more Destructions played In this ghastly masquerade,

All disguised, even to the eyes,

Like bishops, lawyers, peers, or spies. 8. Last came Anarchy; he rode

On a white horse splashed with blood;
He was pale even to the lips,
Like Death in the Apocalypse.

9. And he wore a kingly crown;
In his hand a sceptre shone;
On his brow this mark I saw-
"I am God, and King, and Law!"

10. With a pace stately and fast
Over English land he passed,
Trampling to a mire of blood
The adoring multitude.

11. And a mighty troop around

With their trampling shook the ground,
Waving each a bloody sword

For the service of their lord.

12. And with glorious triumph they

Rode through England, proud and gay,
Drunk as with intoxication

Of the wine of desolation.

13. O'er fields and towns, from sea to sea,
Passed the pageant swift and free,
Tearing up and trampling down,
Till they came to London town.

14. And each dweller, panic-stricken,
Felt his heart with terror sicken,
Hearing the tempestuous cry
Of the triumph of Anarchy.

15. For with pomp to meet him came,
Clothed in arms like blood and flame,
The hired murderers who did sing,
"Thou art God, and Law, and King!

16. "We have waited, weak and lone,
For thy coming, Mighty One!

Our purses are empty, our swords are cold;
Give us glory, and blood, and gold."

17. Lawyers and priests, a motley crowd,
To the earth their pale brows bowed,-
Like a bad prayer not over loud,
Whispering Thou art Law and God!"

66

18. Then all cried with one accord,

"Thou art King, and Law, and Lord;

Anarchy, to thee we bow,

Be thy name made holy now!" 19. And Anarchy the skeleton Bowed and grinned to every one As well as if his education

Had cost ten millions to the nation.

20. For he knew the palaces

Of our kings were nightly his;
His the sceptre, crown, and globe,
And the gold-inwoven robe.

21. So he sent his slaves before

To seize upon the Bank and Tower,
And was proceeding with intent
To meet his pensioned parliament,
22. When one fled past, a maniac maid,
And her name was Hope, she said,
But she looked more like Despair;
And she cried out in the air :

23. "My father Time is weak and grey
With waiting for a better day;
See how idiot-like he stands,
Fumbling with his palsied hands!

24. "He has had child after child,
And the dust of death is piled
Over every one but me—
Misery! oh Misery!"

25. Then she lay down in the street
Right before the horses' feet,
Expecting with a patient eye
Murder, Fraud, and Anarchy :-

:

26. When between her and her foes
A mist, a light, an image rose,
Small at first, and weak and frail
Like the vapour of the vale:

27. Till, as clouds grow on the blast

Like tower-crowned giants striding fast,
And glare with lightnings as they fly,
And speak in thunder to the sky,

28. It grew a shape arrayed in mail
Brighter than the viper's scale,
And upborne on wings whose grain
Was like the light of sunny rain.

29. On its helm seen far away.

A planet like the morning's lay;

And those plumes its light rained through,
Like a shower of crimson dew.

30. With step as soft as wind it passed
O'er the heads of men: so fast
That they knew the presence there,
And looked-and all was empty air.

31. As flowers beneath May's footsteps waken,
As stars from Night's loose hair are shaken,
As waves arise when loud winds call,
Thoughts sprung where'er that step did fall.

32. And the prostrate multitude

Looked-and, ankle-deep in blood,
Hope, that maiden most serene,
Was walking with a quiet mien ;
33. And Anarchy, the ghastly birth,
Lay dead earth upon the earth;
The horse of Death, tameless as wind,
Fled, and with his hoofs did grind
To dust the murderers thronged behind.
34. A rushing light of clouds and splendour,
A sense awakening and yet tender,
Was heard and felt-and at its close
These words of joy and fear arose ;
35. As if their own indignant Earth,

Which gave the sons of England birth,
Had felt their blood upon her brow,
And, shuddering with a mother's throe,
36. Had turned every drop of blood
By which her face had been bedewed
To an accent unwithstood,

As if her heart had cried aloud.

37. "Men of England, heirs of glory,
Heroes of unwritten story,
Nurslings of one mighty mother,
Hopes of her and one another!

38. "Rise, like lions after slumber,
In unvanquishable number!

Shake your chains to earth, like dew
Which in sleep had fallen on you!

39. What is Freedom? Ye can tell
That which Slavery is too well,
For its very name has grown
To an echo of your own.

40. "Tis to work, and have such pay

As just keeps life from day to day

In

your limbs as in a cell

For the tyrants' use to dwell: