And every beast stretched in its rugged cave,
And every bird lulled on its mossy bough,
And every silver moth, fresh from the grave
Which is its cradle-ever from below
Aspiring like one who loves too fair, too far,
To be consumed within the purest glow

Of one serene and unapproached star,
As if it were a lamp of earthly light,
Unconscious as some human lovers are,

Itself how low, how high, beyond all height
The heaven where it would perish!—and every

form

That worshipped in the temple of the night

Was awed into delight, and by the charm
Girt as with an interminable zone,

Whilst that sweet bird, whose music was a storm

Of sound, shook forth the dull oblivion
Out of their dreams; harmony became love
In every soul but one.

And so this man returned with axe and saw
At evening close from killing the tall treen,
The soul of whom by nature's gentle law

Was each a wood-nymph, and kept ever green
The pavement and the roof of the wild copse,
Chequering the sunlight of the blue serene

With jagged leaves, and from the forest tops Singing the winds to sleep-or weeping oft Fast showers of aërial water drops

Into their mother's bosom, sweet and soft,

Nature's pure tears which have no bitterness ;—
Around the cradles of the birds aloft

They spread themselves into the loveliness
Of fan-like leaves, and over pallid flowers

Hang like moist clouds: or, where high branches kiss,

Make a green space among the silent bowers,
Like a vast fane in a metropolis,

Surrounded by the columns and the towers

All overwrought with branch-like traceries
In which there is religion-and the mute
Persuasion of unkindled melodies,

Odours and gleams and murmurs, which the lute
Of the blind pilot-spirit of the blast

Stirs as it sails, now grave and now acute,

Wakening the leaves and waves ere it has past

To such brief unison as on the brain

One tone, which never can recur, has cast,

One accent never to return again

MISERY.-A FRAGMENT.

COME, be happy !-sit near me,
Shadow-vested Misery;

Coy, unwilling, silent bride,
Mourning in thy robe of pride,
Desolation-deified!

Come, be happy!-sit near me :
Sad as I may seem to thee,
I am happier far than thou,
Lady, whose imperial brow
Is endiademed with woe.

Misery! we have known each other Like a sister and a brother

Living in the same lone home,

Many years-we must live some

Hours or ages yet to come.

'Tis an evil lot, and yet
Let us make the best of it;

If love can live when pleasure dies,
We too will love, till in our eyes
This heart's Hell seem Paradise.

Come, be happy!-lie thee down On the fresh grass newly mown, 13

VOL. III.

Where the grasshopper doth sing
Merrily-one joyous thing
In a world of sorrowing!

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.

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?

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.

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.

Clasp me, till our hearts be grown

Like two shadows into one;

Till this dreadful transport may
Like a vapour fade away

In the sleep that lasts alway.

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

Thou mayest dream of her with me.

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

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?

TO MARY

O MARY dear, that you were here With your brown eyes bright and clear, And your sweet voice, like a bird Singing love to its lone mate