Hero And Leander. [34] A Ballad.

See you the towers, that, gray and old,     Frown through the sunlight's liquid gold,     Steep sternly fronting steep?     The Hellespont beneath them swells,     And roaring cleaves the Dardanelles,     The rock-gates of the deep!     Hear you the sea, whose stormy wave,     From Asia, Europe clove in thunder?     That sea which rent a world, cannot     Rend love from love asunder!     In Hero's, in Leander's heart,     Thrills the sweet anguish of the dart     Whose feather flies from love.     All Hebe's bloom in Hero's cheek     And his the hunter's steps that seek     Delight, the hills above!     Between their sires the rival feud     Forbids their plighted hearts to meet;     Love's fruits hang over danger's gulf,     By danger made more sweet.     Alone on Sestos' rocky tower,     Where upward sent in stormy shower,     The whirling waters foam,     Alone the maiden sits, and eyes     The cliffs of fair Abydos rise     Afar her lover's home.     Oh, safely thrown from strand to strand,     No bridge can love to love convey;     No boatman shoots from yonder shore,     Yet Love has found the way.     That love, which could the labyrinth pierce     Which nerves the weak, and curbs the fierce,     And wings with wit the dull;     That love which o'er the furrowed land     Bowed tame beneath young Jason's hand     The fiery-snorting bull!     Yes, Styx itself, that ninefold flows,     Has love, the fearless, ventured o'er,     And back to daylight borne the bride,     From Pluto's dreary shore!     What marvel then that wind and wave,     Leander doth but burn to brave,     When love, that goads him, guides!     Still when the day, with fainter glimmer,     Wanes pale he leaps, the daring swimmer,     Amid the darkening tides;     With lusty arms he cleaves the waves,     And strikes for that dear strand afar;     Where high from Hero's lonely tower     Lone streams the beacon-star.     In vain his blood the wave may chill,     These tender arms can warm it still     And, weary if the way,     By many a sweet embrace, above     All earthly boons can liberal love     The lover's toil repay,     Until Aurora breaks the dream,     And warns the loiterer to depart     Back to the ocean's icy bed,     Scared from that loving heart.     So thirty suns have sped their flight     Still in that theft of sweet delight     Exult the happy pair;     Caress will never pall caress,     And joys that gods might envy, bless     The single bride-night there.     Ah! never he has rapture known,     Who has not, where the waves are driven     Upon the fearful shores of hell,     Plucked fruits that taste of heaven!     Now changing in their season are,     The morning and the Hesper star;     Nor see those happy eyes     The leaves that withering droop and fall,     Nor hear, when, from its northern hall,     The neighboring winter sighs;     Or, if they see, the shortening days     But seem to them to close in kindness;     For longer joys, in lengthening nights,     They thank the heaven in blindness.     It is the time, when night and day,     In equal scales contend for sway [35]     Lone, on her rocky steep,     Lingers the girl with wistful eyes     That watch the sun-steeds down the skies,     Careering towards the deep.     Lulled lay the smooth and silent sea,     A mirror in translucent calm,     The breeze, along that crystal realm,     Unmurmuring, died in balm.     In wanton swarms and blithe array,     The merry dolphins glide and play     Amid the silver waves.     In gray and dusky troops are seen,     The hosts that serve the ocean-queen,     Upborne from coral caves:     They only they have witnessed love     To rapture steal its secret way:     And Hecate [36] seals the only lips     That could the tale betray!     She marks in joy the lulled water,     And Sestos, thus thy tender daughter,     Soft-flattering, woos the sea!     "Fair god and canst thou then betray?     No! falsehood dwells with them that say     That falsehood dwells with thee!     Ah! faithless is the race of man,     And harsh a father's heart can prove;     But thee, the gentle and the mild,     The grief of love can move!"     "Within these hated walls of stone,     Should I, repining, mourn alone,     And fade in ceaseless care,     But thou, though o'er thy giant tide,     Nor bridge may span, nor boat may glide,     Dost safe my lover bear.     And darksome is thy solemn deep,     And fearful is thy roaring wave;     But wave and deep are won by love     Thou smilest on the brave!"     "Nor vainly, sovereign of the sea,     Did Eros send his shafts to thee     What time the rain of gold,     Bright Helle, with her brother bore,     How stirred the waves she wandered o'er,     How stirred thy deeps of old!     Swift, by the maiden's charms subdued,     Thou cam'st from out the gloomy waves,     And in thy mighty arms, she sank     Into thy bridal caves."     "A goddess with a god, to keep     In endless youth, beneath the deep,     Her solemn ocean-court!     And still she smooths thine angry tides,     Tames thy wild heart, and favoring guides     The sailor to the port!     Beautiful Helle, bright one, hear     Thy lone adoring suppliant pray!     And guide, O goddess guide my love     Along the wonted way!"     Now twilight dims the waters' flow,     And from the tower, the beacon's glow     Waves flickering o'er the main.     Ah, where athwart the dismal stream,     Shall shine the beacon's faithful beam     The lover's eyes shall strain!     Hark! sounds moan threatening from afar     From heaven the blessed stars are gone     More darkly swells the rising sea     The tempest labors on!     Along the ocean's boundless plains     Lies night in torrents rush the rains     From the dark-bosomed cloud     Red lightning skirs the panting air,     And, loosed from out their rocky lair,     Sweep all the storms abroad.     Huge wave on huge wave tumbling o'er,     The yawning gulf is rent asunder,     And shows, as through an opening pall,     Grim earth the ocean under!     Poor maiden! bootless wail or vow     "Have mercy, Jove be gracious, thou!     Dread prayer was mine before!"     What if the gods have heard and he,     Lone victim of the stormy sea,     Now struggles to the shore!     There's not a sea-bird on the wave     Their hurrying wings the shelter seek;     The stoutest ship the storms have proved,     Takes refuge in the creek.     "Ah, still that heart, which oft has braved     The danger where the daring saved,     Love lureth o'er the sea;     For many a vow at parting morn,     That naught but death should bar return,     Breathed those dear lips to me;     And whirled around, the while I weep,     Amid the storm that rides the wave,     The giant gulf is grasping down     The rash one to the grave!     "False Pontus! and the calm I hailed,     The awaiting murder darkly veiled     The lulled pellucid flow,     The smiles in which thou wert arrayed,     Were but the snares that love betrayed     To thy false realm below!     Now in the midway of the main,     Return relentlessly forbidden,     Thou loosenest on the path beyond     The horrors thou hadst hidden."     Loud and more loud the tempest raves     In thunder break the mountain waves,     White-foaming on the rock     No ship that ever swept the deep     Its ribs of gnarled oak could keep     Unshattered by the shock.     Dies in the blast the guiding torch     To light the struggler to the strand;     'Tis death to battle with the wave,     And death no less to land!     On Venus, daughter of the seas,     She calls the tempest to appease     To each wild-shrieking wind     Along the ocean-desert borne,     She vows a steer with golden horn     Vain vow relentless wind!     On every goddess of the deep,     On all the gods in heaven that be,     She calls to soothe in calm, awhile     The tempest-laden sea!     "Hearken the anguish of my cries!     From thy green halls, arise arise,     Leucothoe the divine!     Who, in the barren main afar,     Oft on the storm-beat mariner     Dost gently-saving shine.     Oh, reach to him thy mystic veil,     To which the drowning clasp may cling,     And safely from that roaring grave,     To shore my lover bring!"     And now the savage winds are hushing.     And o'er the arched horizon, blushing,     Day's chariot gleams on high!     Back to their wonted channels rolled,     In crystal calm the waves behold     One smile on sea and sky!     All softly breaks the rippling tide,     Low-murmuring on the rocky land,     And playful wavelets gently float     A corpse upon the strand!     'Tis he! who even in death would still     Not fail the sweet vow to fulfil;     She looks sees knows him there!     From her pale lips no sorrow speaks,     No tears glide down her hueless cheeks;     Cold-numbed in her despair     She looked along the silent deep,     She looked upon the brightening heaven,     Till to the marble face the soul     Its light sublime had given!     "Ye solemn powers men shrink to name,     Your might is here, your rights ye claim     Yet think not I repine     Soon closed my course; yet I can bless     The life that brought me happiness     The fairest lot was mine!     Living have I thy temple served,     Thy consecrated priestess been     My last glad offering now receive     Venus, thou mightiest queen!"     Flashed the white robe along the air,     And from the tower that beetled there     She sprang into the wave;     Roused from his throne beneath the waste,     Those holy forms the god embraced     A god himself their grave!     Pleased with his prey, he glides along     More blithe the murmured music seems,     A gush from unexhausted urns     His everlasting streams!