The Revolt Of Islam. - Canto 12.

1.     The transport of a fierce and monstrous gladness     Spread through the multitudinous streets, fast flying     Upon the winds of fear; from his dull madness     The starveling waked, and died in joy; the dying,     Among the corpses in stark agony lying,     Just heard the happy tidings, and in hope     Closed their faint eyes; from house to house replying     With loud acclaim, the living shook Heaven's cope,     And filled the startled Earth with echoes: morn did ope     2.     Its pale eyes then; and lo! the long array     Of guards in golden arms, and Priests beside,     Singing their bloody hymns, whose garbs betray     The blackness of the faith it seems to hide;     And see, the Tyrant's gem-wrought chariot glide     Among the gloomy cowls and glittering spears -     A Shape of light is sitting by his side,     A child most beautiful. I' the midst appears     Laon, - exempt alone from mortal hopes and fears.     3.     His head and feet are bare, his hands are bound     Behind with heavy chains, yet none do wreak     Their scoffs on him, though myriads throng around;     There are no sneers upon his lip which speak     That scorn or hate has made him bold; his cheek     Resolve has not turned pale, - his eyes are mild     And calm, and, like the morn about to break,     Smile on mankind - his heart seems reconciled     To all things and itself, like a reposing child.     4.     Tumult was in the soul of all beside,     Ill joy, or doubt, or fear; but those who saw     Their tranquil victim pass, felt wonder glide     Into their brain, and became calm with awe. -     See, the slow pageant near the pile doth draw.     A thousand torches in the spacious square,     Borne by the ready slaves of ruthless law,     Await the signal round: the morning fair     Is changed to a dim night by that unnatural glare.     5.     And see! beneath a sun-bright canopy,     Upon a platform level with the pile,     The anxious Tyrant sit, enthroned on high,     Girt by the chieftains of the host; all smile     In expectation, but one child: the while     I, Laon, led by mutes, ascend my bier     Of fire, and look around: each distant isle     Is dark in the bright dawn; towers far and near,     Pierce like reposing flames the tremulous atmosphere.     6.     There was such silence through the host, as when     An earthquake trampling on some populous town,     Has crushed ten thousand with one tread, and men     Expect the second; all were mute but one,     That fairest child, who, bold with love, alone     Stood up before the King, without avail,     Pleading for Laon's life - her stifled groan     Was heard - she trembled like one aspen pale     Among the gloomy pines of a Norwegian vale.     7.     What were his thoughts linked in the morning sun,     Among those reptiles, stingless with delay,     Even like a tyrant's wrath? - The signal-gun     Roared - hark, again! In that dread pause he lay     As in a quiet dream - the slaves obey -     A thousand torches drop, - and hark, the last     Bursts on that awful silence; far away,     Millions, with hearts that beat both loud and fast,     Watch for the springing flame expectant and aghast.     8.     They fly - the torches fall - a cry of fear     Has startled the triumphant! - they recede!     For, ere the cannon's roar has died, they hear     The tramp of hoofs like earthquake, and a steed     Dark and gigantic, with the tempest's speed,     Bursts through their ranks: a woman sits thereon,     Fairer, it seems, than aught that earth can breed,     Calm, radiant, like the phantom of the dawn,     A spirit from the caves of daylight wandering gone.     9.     All thought it was God's Angel come to sweep     The lingering guilty to their fiery grave;     The Tyrant from his throne in dread did leap, -     Her innocence his child from fear did save;     Scared by the faith they feigned, each priestly slave     Knelt for his mercy whom they served with blood,     And, like the refluence of a mighty wave     Sucked into the loud sea, the multitude     With crushing panic, fled in terror's altered mood.     10.     They pause, they blush, they gaze, - a gathering shout     Bursts like one sound from the ten thousand streams     Of a tempestuous sea: - that sudden rout     One checked, who, never in his mildest dreams     Felt awe from grace or loveliness, the seams     Of his rent heart so hard and cold a creed     Had seared with blistering ice - but he misdeems     That he is wise, whose wounds do only bleed     Inly for self, - thus thought the Iberian Priest indeed,     11.     And others, too, thought he was wise to see,     In pain, and fear, and hate, something divine;     In love and beauty, no divinity. -     Now with a bitter smile, whose light did shine     Like a fiend's hope upon his lips and eyne,     He said, and the persuasion of that sneer     Rallied his trembling comrades - 'Is it mine     To stand alone, when kings and soldiers fear     A woman? Heaven has sent its other victim here.'     12.     'Were it not impious,' said the King, 'to break     Our holy oath?' - 'Impious to keep it, say!'     Shrieked the exulting Priest: - 'Slaves, to the stake     Bind her, and on my head the burden lay     Of her just torments: - at the Judgement Day     Will I stand up before the golden throne     Of Heaven, and cry, "To Thee did I betray     An infidel; but for me she would have known     Another moment's joy! the glory be thine own."'     13.     They trembled, but replied not, nor obeyed,     Pausing in breathless silence. Cythna sprung     From her gigantic steed, who, like a shade     Chased by the winds, those vacant streets among     Fled tameless, as the brazen rein she flung     Upon his neck, and kissed his mooned brow.     A piteous sight, that one so fair and young,     The clasp of such a fearful death should woo     With smiles of tender joy as beamed from Cythna now.     14.     The warm tears burst in spite of faith and fear     From many a tremulous eye, but like soft dews     Which feed Spring's earliest buds, hung gathered there,     Frozen by doubt, - alas! they could not choose     But weep; for when her faint limbs did refuse     To climb the pyre, upon the mutes she smiled;     And with her eloquent gestures, and the hues     Of her quick lips, even as a weary child     Wins sleep from some fond nurse with its caresses mild,     15.     She won them, though unwilling, her to bind     Near me, among the snakes. When there had fled     One soft reproach that was most thrilling kind,     She smiled on me, and nothing then we said,     But each upon the other's countenance fed     Looks of insatiate love; the mighty veil     Which doth divide the living and the dead     Was almost rent, the world grew dim and pale, -     All light in Heaven or Earth beside our love did fail. -     16.     Yet - yet - one brief relapse, like the last beam     Of dying flames, the stainless air around     Hung silent and serene - a blood-red gleam     Burst upwards, hurling fiercely from the ground     The globed smoke, - I heard the mighty sound     Of its uprise, like a tempestuous ocean;     And through its chasms I saw, as in a swound,     The tyrant's child fall without life or motion     Before his throne, subdued by some unseen emotion. -     17.     And is this death? - The pyre has disappeared,     The Pestilence, the Tyrant, and the throng;     The flames grow silent - slowly there is heard     The music of a breath-suspending song,     Which, like the kiss of love when life is young,     Steeps the faint eyes in darkness sweet and deep;     With ever-changing notes it floats along,     Till on my passive soul there seemed to creep     A melody, like waves on wrinkled sands that leap.     18.     The warm touch of a soft and tremulous hand     Wakened me then; lo! Cythna sate reclined     Beside me, on the waved and golden sand     Of a clear pool, upon a bank o'ertwined     With strange and star-bright flowers, which to the wind     Breathed divine odour; high above, was spread     The emerald heaven of trees of unknown kind,     Whose moonlike blooms and bright fruit overhead     A shadow, which was light, upon the waters shed.     19.     And round about sloped many a lawny mountain     With incense-bearing forests and vast caves     Of marble radiance, to that mighty fountain;     And where the flood its own bright margin laves,     Their echoes talk with its eternal waves,     Which, from the depths whose jagged caverns breed     Their unreposing strife, it lifts and heaves, -     Till through a chasm of hills they roll, and feed     A river deep, which flies with smooth but arrowy speed.     20.     As we sate gazing in a trance of wonder,     A boat approached, borne by the musical air     Along the waves which sung and sparkled under     Its rapid keel - a winged shape sate there,     A child with silver-shining wings, so fair,     That as her bark did through the waters glide,     The shadow of the lingering waves did wear     Light, as from starry beams; from side to side,     While veering to the wind her plumes the bark did guide.     21.     The boat was one curved shell of hollow pearl,     Almost translucent with the light divine     Of her within; the prow and stern did curl     Horned on high, like the young moon supine,     When o'er dim twilight mountains dark with pine,     It floats upon the sunset's sea of beams,     Whose golden waves in many a purple line     Fade fast, till borne on sunlight's ebbing streams,     Dilating, on earth's verge the sunken meteor gleams.     22.     Its keel has struck the sands beside our feet; -     Then Cythna turned to me, and from her eyes     Which swam with unshed tears, a look more sweet     Than happy love, a wild and glad surprise,     Glanced as she spake: 'Ay, this is Paradise     And not a dream, and we are all united!     Lo, that is mine own child, who in the guise     Of madness came, like day to one benighted     In lonesome woods: my heart is now too well requited!'     23.     And then she wept aloud, and in her arms     Clasped that bright Shape, less marvellously fair     Than her own human hues and living charms;     Which, as she leaned in passion's silence there,     Breathed warmth on the cold bosom of the air,     Which seemed to blush and tremble with delight;     The glossy darkness of her streaming hair     Fell o'er that snowy child, and wrapped from sight     The fond and long embrace which did their hearts unite.     24.     Then the bright child, the plumed Seraph came,     And fixed its blue and beaming eyes on mine,     And said, 'I was disturbed by tremulous shame     When once we met, yet knew that I was thine     From the same hour in which thy lips divine     Kindled a clinging dream within my brain,     Which ever waked when I might sleep, to twine     Thine image with HER memory dear - again     We meet; exempted now from mortal fear or pain.     25.     'When the consuming flames had wrapped ye round,     The hope which I had cherished went away;     I fell in agony on the senseless ground,     And hid mine eyes in dust, and far astray     My mind was gone, when bright, like dawning day,     The Spectre of the Plague before me flew,     And breathed upon my lips, and seemed to say,     "They wait for thee, beloved!" - then I knew     The death-mark on my breast, and became calm anew.     26.     'It was the calm of love - for I was dying.     I saw the black and half-extinguished pyre     In its own gray and shrunken ashes lying;     The pitchy smoke of the departed fire     Still hung in many a hollow dome and spire     Above the towers, like night, - beneath whose shade     Awed by the ending of their own desire     The armies stood; a vacancy was made     In expectation's depth, and so they stood dismayed.     27.     'The frightful silence of that altered mood,     The tortures of the dying clove alone,     Till one uprose among the multitude,     And said - "The flood of time is rolling on;     We stand upon its brink, whilst THEY are gone     To glide in peace down death's mysterious stream.     Have ye done well? They moulder, flesh and bone,     Who might have made this life's envenomed dream     A sweeter draught than ye will ever taste, I deem.     28.     '"These perish as the good and great of yore     Have perished, and their murderers will repent, -     Yes, vain and barren tears shall flow before     Yon smoke has faded from the firmament     Even for this cause, that ye who must lament     The death of those that made this world so fair,     Cannot recall them now; but there is lent     To man the wisdom of a high despair,     When such can die, and he live on and linger here.     29.     '"Ay, ye may fear not now the Pestilence,     From fabled hell as by a charm withdrawn;     All power and faith must pass, since calmly hence     In pain and fire have unbelievers gone;     And ye must sadly turn away, and moan     In secret, to his home each one returning;     And to long ages shall this hour be known;     And slowly shall its memory, ever burning,     Fill this dark night of things with an eternal morning.     30.     '"For me that world is grown too void and cold,     Since Hope pursues immortal Destiny     With steps thus slow - therefore shall ye behold     How those who love, yet fear not, dare to die;     Tell to your children this!" Then suddenly     He sheathed a dagger in his heart and fell;     My brain grew dark in death, and yet to me     There came a murmur from the crowd, to tell     Of deep and mighty change which suddenly befell.     31.     'Then suddenly I stood, a winged Thought,     Before the immortal Senate, and the seat     Of that star-shining spirit, whence is wrought     The strength of its dominion, good and great,     The better Genius of this world's estate.     His realm around one mighty Fane is spread,     Elysian islands bright and fortunate,     Calm dwellings of the free and happy dead,     Where I am sent to lead!' These winged words she said,     32.     And with the silence of her eloquent smile,     Bade us embark in her divine canoe;     Then at the helm we took our seat, the while     Above her head those plumes of dazzling hue     Into the winds' invisible stream she threw,     Sitting beside the prow: like gossamer     On the swift breath of morn, the vessel flew     O'er the bright whirlpools of that fountain fair,     Whose shores receded fast, while we seemed lingering there;     33.     Till down that mighty stream, dark, calm, and fleet,     Between a chasm of cedarn mountains riven,     Chased by the thronging winds whose viewless feet     As swift as twinkling beams, had, under Heaven,     From woods and waves wild sounds and odours driven,     The boat fled visibly - three nights and days,     Borne like a cloud through morn, and noon, and even,     We sailed along the winding watery ways     Of the vast stream, a long and labyrinthine maze.     34.     A scene of joy and wonder to behold     That river's shapes and shadows changing ever,     Where the broad sunrise filled with deepening gold     Its whirlpools, where all hues did spread and quiver;     And where melodious falls did burst and shiver     Among rocks clad with flowers, the foam and spray     Sparkled like stars upon the sunny river,     Or when the moonlight poured a holier day,     One vast and glittering lake around green islands lay.     35.     Morn, noon, and even, that boat of pearl outran     The streams which bore it, like the arrowy cloud     Of tempest, or the speedier thought of man,     Which flieth forth and cannot make abode;     Sometimes through forests, deep like night, we glode,     Between the walls of mighty mountains crowned     With Cyclopean piles, whose turrets proud,     The homes of the departed, dimly frowned     O'er the bright waves which girt their dark foundations round.     36.     Sometimes between the wide and flowering meadows,     Mile after mile we sailed, and 'twas delight     To see far off the sunbeams chase the shadows     Over the grass; sometimes beneath the night     Of wide and vaulted caves, whose roofs were bright     With starry gems, we fled, whilst from their deep     And dark-green chasms, shades beautiful and white,     Amid sweet sounds across our path would sweep,     Like swift and lovely dreams that walk the waves of sleep.     37.     And ever as we sailed, our minds were full     Of love and wisdom, which would overflow     In converse wild, and sweet, and wonderful,     And in quick smiles whose light would come and go     Like music o'er wide waves, and in the flow     Of sudden tears, and in the mute caress -     For a deep shade was cleft, and we did know,     That virtue, though obscured on Earth, not less     Survives all mortal change in lasting loveliness.     38.     Three days and nights we sailed, as thought and feeling     Number delightful hours - for through the sky     The sphered lamps of day and night, revealing     New changes and new glories, rolled on high,     Sun, Moon and moonlike lamps, the progeny     Of a diviner Heaven, serene and fair:     On the fourth day, wild as a windwrought sea     The stream became, and fast and faster bare     The spirit-winged boat, steadily speeding there.     39.     Steady and swift, where the waves rolled like mountains     Within the vast ravine, whose rifts did pour     Tumultuous floods from their ten thousand fountains,     The thunder of whose earth-uplifting roar     Made the air sweep in whirlwinds from the shore,     Calm as a shade, the boat of that fair child     Securely fled, that rapid stress before,     Amid the topmost spray, and sunbows wild,     Wreathed in the silver mist: in joy and pride we smiled.     40.     The torrent of that wide and raging river     Is passed, and our aereal speed suspended.     We look behind; a golden mist did quiver     When its wild surges with the lake were blended, -     Our bark hung there, as on a line suspended     Between two heavens, - that windless waveless lake     Which four great cataracts from four vales, attended     By mists, aye feed; from rocks and clouds they break,     And of that azure sea a silent refuge make.     41.     Motionless resting on the lake awhile,     I saw its marge of snow-bright mountains rear     Their peaks aloft, I saw each radiant isle,     And in the midst, afar, even like a sphere     Hung in one hollow sky, did there appear     The Temple of the Spirit; on the sound     Which issued thence, drawn nearer and more near,     Like the swift moon this glorious earth around,     The charmed boat approached, and there its haven found.