The Revolt Of Islam. - Canto 5.

1.     Over the utmost hill at length I sped,     A snowy steep: - the moon was hanging low     Over the Asian mountains, and outspread     The plain, the City, and the Camp below,     Skirted the midnight Ocean's glimmering flow;     The City's moonlit spires and myriad lamps,     Like stars in a sublunar sky did glow,     And fires blazed far amid the scattered camps,     Like springs of flame, which burst where'er swift Earthquake stamps.     2.     All slept but those in watchful arms who stood,     And those who sate tending the beacon's light,     And the few sounds from that vast multitude     Made silence more profound. - Oh, what a might     Of human thought was cradled in that night!     How many hearts impenetrably veiled     Beat underneath its shade, what secret fight     Evil and good, in woven passions mailed,     Waged through that silent throng - a war that never failed!     3.     And now the Power of Good held victory.     So, through the labyrinth of many a tent,     Among the silent millions who did lie     In innocent sleep, exultingly I went;     The moon had left Heaven desert now, but lent     From eastern morn the first faint lustre showed     An armed youth - over his spear he bent     His downward face. - 'A friend!' I cried aloud,     And quickly common hopes made freemen understood.     4.     I sate beside him while the morning beam     Crept slowly over Heaven, and talked with him     Of those immortal hopes, a glorious theme!     Which led us forth, until the stars grew dim:     And all the while, methought, his voice did swim     As if it drowned in remembrance were     Of thoughts which make the moist eyes overbrim:     At last, when daylight 'gan to fill the air,     He looked on me, and cried in wonder - 'Thou art here!'     5.     Then, suddenly, I knew it was the youth     In whom its earliest hopes my spirit found;     But envious tongues had stained his spotless truth,     And thoughtless pride his love in silence bound,     And shame and sorrow mine in toils had wound,     Whilst he was innocent, and I deluded;     The truth now came upon me, on the ground     Tears of repenting joy, which fast intruded,     Fell fast, and o'er its peace our mingling spirits brooded.     6.     Thus, while with rapid lips and earnest eyes     We talked, a sound of sweeping conflict spread     As from the earth did suddenly arise;     From every tent roused by that clamour dread,     Our bands outsprung and seized their arms - we sped     Towards the sound: our tribes were gathering far.     Those sanguine slaves amid ten thousand dead     Stabbed in their sleep, trampled in treacherous war     The gentle hearts whose power their lives had sought to spare.     7.     Like rabid snakes, that sting some gentle child     Who brings them food, when winter false and fair     Allures them forth with its cold smiles, so wild     They rage among the camp; - they overbear     The patriot hosts - confusion, then despair,     Descends like night - when 'Laon!' one did cry;     Like a bright ghost from Heaven that shout did scare     The slaves, and widening through the vaulted sky,     Seemed sent from Earth to Heaven in sign of victory.     8.     In sudden panic those false murderers fled,     Like insect tribes before the northern gale:     But swifter still, our hosts encompassed     Their shattered ranks, and in a craggy vale,     Where even their fierce despair might nought avail,     Hemmed them around! - and then revenge and fear     Made the high virtue of the patriots fail:     One pointed on his foe the mortal spear -     I rushed before its point, and cried 'Forbear, forbear!'     9.     The spear transfixed my arm that was uplifted     In swift expostulation, and the blood     Gushed round its point: I smiled, and - 'Oh! thou gifted     With eloquence which shall not be withstood,     Flow thus!' I cried in joy, 'thou vital flood,     Until my heart be dry, ere thus the cause     For which thou wert aught worthy be subdued -     Ah, ye are pale, - ye weep, - your passions pause, -     'Tis well! ye feel the truth of love's benignant laws.     10.     'Soldiers, our brethren and our friends are slain.     Ye murdered them, I think, as they did sleep!     Alas, what have ye done? the slightest pain     Which ye might suffer, there were eyes to weep,     But ye have quenched them - there were smiles to steep     Your hearts in balm, but they are lost in woe;     And those whom love did set his watch to keep     Around your tents, truth's freedom to bestow,     Ye stabbed as they did sleep - but they forgive ye now.     11.     'Oh wherefore should ill ever flow from ill,     And pain still keener pain for ever breed?     We all are brethren - even the slaves who kill     For hire, are men; and to avenge misdeed     On the misdoer, doth but Misery feed     With her own broken heart! O Earth, O Heaven!     And thou, dread Nature, which to every deed     And all that lives, or is, to be hath given,     Even as to thee have these done ill, and are forgiven!     12.     'Join then your hands and hearts, and let the past     Be as a grave which gives not up its dead     To evil thoughts.' - A film then overcast     My sense with dimness, for the wound, which bled     Freshly, swift shadows o'er mine eyes had shed.     When I awoke, I lay mid friends and foes,     And earnest countenances on me shed     The light of questioning looks, whilst one did close     My wound with balmiest herbs, and soothed me to repose;     13.     And one whose spear had pierced me, leaned beside     With quivering lips and humid eyes; - and all     Seemed like some brothers on a journey wide     Gone forth, whom now strange meeting did befall     In a strange land, round one whom they might call     Their friend, their chief, their father, for assay     Of peril, which had saved them from the thrall     Of death, now suffering. Thus the vast array     Of those fraternal bands were reconciled that day.     14.     Lifting the thunder of their acclamation,     Towards the City then the multitude,     And I among them, went in joy - a nation     Made free by love; - a mighty brotherhood     Linked by a jealous interchange of good;     A glorious pageant, more magnificent     Than kingly slaves arrayed in gold and blood,     When they return from carnage, and are sent     In triumph bright beneath the populous battlement.     15.     Afar, the city-walls were thronged on high,     And myriads on each giddy turret clung,     And to each spire far lessening in the sky     Bright pennons on the idle winds were hung;     As we approached, a shout of joyance sprung     At once from all the crowd, as if the vast     And peopled Earth its boundless skies among     The sudden clamour of delight had cast,     When from before its face some general wreck had passed.     16.     Our armies through the City's hundred gates     Were poured, like brooks which to the rocky lair     Of some deep lake, whose silence them awaits,     Throng from the mountains when the storms are there     And, as we passed through the calm sunny air     A thousand flower-inwoven crowns were shed,     The token flowers of truth and freedom fair,     And fairest hands bound them on many a head,     Those angels of love's heaven that over all was spread.     17.     I trod as one tranced in some rapturous vision:     Those bloody bands so lately reconciled,     Were, ever as they went, by the contrition     Of anger turned to love, from ill beguiled,     And every one on them more gently smiled,     Because they had done evil: - the sweet awe     Of such mild looks made their own hearts grow mild,     And did with soft attraction ever draw     Their spirits to the love of freedom's equal law.     18.     And they, and all, in one loud symphony     My name with Liberty commingling, lifted,     'The friend and the preserver of the free!     The parent of this joy!' and fair eyes gifted     With feelings, caught from one who had uplifted     The light of a great spirit, round me shone;     And all the shapes of this grand scenery shifted     Like restless clouds before the steadfast sun, -     Where was that Maid? I asked, but it was known of none.     19.     Laone was the name her love had chosen,     For she was nameless, and her birth none knew:     Where was Laone now? - The words were frozen     Within my lips with fear; but to subdue     Such dreadful hope, to my great task was due,     And when at length one brought reply, that she     To-morrow would appear, I then withdrew     To judge what need for that great throng might be,     For now the stars came thick over the twilight sea.     20.     Yet need was none for rest or food to care,     Even though that multitude was passing great,     Since each one for the other did prepare     All kindly succour - Therefore to the gate     Of the Imperial House, now desolate,     I passed, and there was found aghast, alone,     The fallen Tyrant! - Silently he sate     Upon the footstool of his golden throne,     Which, starred with sunny gems, in its own lustre shone.     21.     Alone, but for one child, who led before him     A graceful dance: the only living thing     Of all the crowd, which thither to adore him     Flocked yesterday, who solace sought to bring     In his abandonment! - She knew the King     Had praised her dance of yore, and now she wove     Its circles, aye weeping and murmuring     Mid her sad task of unregarded love,     That to no smiles it might his speechless sadness move.     22.     She fled to him, and wildly clasped his feet     When human steps were heard: - he moved nor spoke,     Nor changed his hue, nor raised his looks to meet     The gaze of strangers - our loud entrance woke     The echoes of the hall, which circling broke     The calm of its recesses, - like a tomb     Its sculptured walls vacantly to the stroke     Of footfalls answered, and the twilight's gloom     Lay like a charnel's mist within the radiant dome.     23.     The little child stood up when we came nigh;     Her lips and cheeks seemed very pale and wan,     But on her forehead, and within her eye     Lay beauty, which makes hearts that feed thereon     Sick with excess of sweetness; on the throne     She leaned; - the King, with gathered brow, and lips     Wreathed by long scorn, did inly sneer and frown     With hue like that when some great painter dips     His pencil in the gloom of earthquake and eclipse.     24.     She stood beside him like a rainbow braided     Within some storm, when scarce its shadows vast     From the blue paths of the swift sun have faded;     A sweet and solemn smile, like Cythna's, cast     One moment's light, which made my heart beat fast,     O'er that child's parted lips - a gleam of bliss,     A shade of vanished days, - as the tears passed     Which wrapped it, even as with a father's kiss     I pressed those softest eyes in trembling tenderness.     25.     The sceptred wretch then from that solitude     I drew, and, of his change compassionate,     With words of sadness soothed his rugged mood.     But he, while pride and fear held deep debate,     With sullen guile of ill-dissembled hate     Glared on me as a toothless snake might glare:     Pity, not scorn I felt, though desolate     The desolator now, and unaware     The curses which he mocked had caught him by the hair.     26.     I led him forth from that which now might seem     A gorgeous grave: through portals sculptured deep     With imagery beautiful as dream     We went, and left the shades which tend on sleep     Over its unregarded gold to keep     Their silent watch. - The child trod faintingly,     And as she went, the tears which she did weep     Glanced in the starlight; wildered seemed she,     And, when I spake, for sobs she could not answer me.     27.     At last the tyrant cried, 'She hungers, slave!     Stab her, or give her bread!' - It was a tone     Such as sick fancies in a new-made grave     Might hear. I trembled, for the truth was known;     He with this child had thus been left alone,     And neither had gone forth for food, - but he     In mingled pride and awe cowered near his throne,     And she a nursling of captivity     Knew nought beyond those walls, nor what such change might be.     28.     And he was troubled at a charm withdrawn     Thus suddenly; that sceptres ruled no more -     That even from gold the dreadful strength was gone,     Which once made all things subject to its power -     Such wonder seized him, as if hour by hour     The past had come again; and the swift fall     Of one so great and terrible of yore,     To desolateness, in the hearts of all     Like wonder stirred, who saw such awful change befall.     29.     A mighty crowd, such as the wide land pours     Once in a thousand years, now gathered round     The fallen tyrant; - like the rush of showers     Of hail in spring, pattering along the ground,     Their many footsteps fell, else came no sound     From the wide multitude: that lonely man     Then knew the burden of his change, and found,     Concealing in the dust his visage wan,     Refuge from the keen looks which through his bosom ran.     30.     And he was faint withal: I sate beside him     Upon the earth, and took that child so fair     From his weak arms, that ill might none betide him     Or her; - when food was brought to them, her share     To his averted lips the child did bear,     But, when she saw he had enough, she ate     And wept the while; - the lonely man's despair     Hunger then overcame, and of his state     Forgetful, on the dust as in a trance he sate.     31.     Slowly the silence of the multitudes     Passed, as when far is heard in some lone dell     The gathering of a wind among the woods -     'And he is fallen!' they cry, 'he who did dwell     Like famine or the plague, or aught more fell     Among our homes, is fallen! the murderer     Who slaked his thirsting soul as from a well     Of blood and tears with ruin! he is here!     Sunk in a gulf of scorn from which none may him rear!'     32.     Then was heard - 'He who judged let him be brought     To judgement! blood for blood cries from the soil     On which his crimes have deep pollution wrought!     Shall Othman only unavenged despoil?     Shall they who by the stress of grinding toil     Wrest from the unwilling earth his luxuries,     Perish for crime, while his foul blood may boil,     Or creep within his veins at will? - Arise!     And to high justice make her chosen sacrifice!'     33.     'What do ye seek? what fear ye,' then I cried,     Suddenly starting forth, 'that ye should shed     The blood of Othman? - if your hearts are tried     In the true love of freedom, cease to dread     This one poor lonely man - beneath Heaven spread     In purest light above us all, through earth -     Maternal earth, who doth her sweet smiles shed     For all, let him go free; until the worth     Of human nature win from these a second birth.     34.     'What call ye "justice"? Is there one who ne'er     In secret thought has wished another's ill? -     Are ye all pure? Let those stand forth who hear     And tremble not. Shall they insult and kill,     If such they be? their mild eyes can they fill     With the false anger of the hypocrite?     Alas, such were not pure! - the chastened will     Of virtue sees that justice is the light     Of love, and not revenge, and terror and despite.'     35.     The murmur of the people, slowly dying,     Paused as I spake, then those who near me were,     Cast gentle looks where the lone man was lying     Shrouding his head, which now that infant fair     Clasped on her lap in silence; - through the air     Sobs were then heard, and many kissed my feet     In pity's madness, and to the despair     Of him whom late they cursed, a solace sweet     His very victims brought - soft looks and speeches meet.     36.     Then to a home for his repose assigned,     Accompanied by the still throng, he went     In silence, where, to soothe his rankling mind,     Some likeness of his ancient state was lent;     And if his heart could have been innocent     As those who pardoned him, he might have ended     His days in peace; but his straight lips were bent,     Men said, into a smile which guile portended,     A sight with which that child like hope with fear was blended.     37.     'Twas midnight now, the eve of that great day     Whereon the many nations at whose call     The chains of earth like mist melted away,     Decreed to hold a sacred Festival,     A rite to attest the equality of all     Who live. So to their homes, to dream or wake     All went. The sleepless silence did recall     Laone to my thoughts, with hopes that make     The flood recede from which their thirst they seek to slake.     38.     The dawn flowed forth, and from its purple fountains     I drank those hopes which make the spirit quail,     As to the plain between the misty mountains     And the great City, with a countenance pale,     I went: - it was a sight which might avail     To make men weep exulting tears, for whom     Now first from human power the reverend veil     Was torn, to see Earth from her general womb     Pour forth her swarming sons to a fraternal doom:     39.     To see, far glancing in the misty morning,     The signs of that innumerable host;     To hear one sound of many made, the warning     Of Earth to Heaven from its free children tossed,     While the eternal hills, and the sea lost     In wavering light, and, starring the blue sky     The city's myriad spires of gold, almost     With human joy made mute society -     Its witnesses with men who must hereafter be.     40.     To see, like some vast island from the Ocean,     The Altar of the Federation rear     Its pile i' the midst; a work, which the devotion     Of millions in one night created there,     Sudden as when the moonrise makes appear     Strange clouds in the east; a marble pyramid     Distinct with steps: that mighty shape did wear     The light of genius; its still shadow hid     Far ships: to know its height the morning mists forbid!     41.     To hear the restless multitudes for ever     Around the base of that great Altar flow,     As on some mountain-islet burst and shiver     Atlantic waves; and solemnly and slow     As the wind bore that tumult to and fro,     To feel the dreamlike music, which did swim     Like beams through floating clouds on waves below     Falling in pauses, from that Altar dim,     As silver-sounding tongues breathed an aerial hymn.     42.     To hear, to see, to live, was on that morn     Lethean joy! so that all those assembled     Cast off their memories of the past outworn;     Two only bosoms with their own life trembled,     And mine was one, - and we had both dissembled;     So with a beating heart I went, and one,     Who having much, covets yet more, resembled;     A lost and dear possession, which not won,     He walks in lonely gloom beneath the noonday sun.     43.     To the great Pyramid I came: its stair     With female choirs was thronged: the loveliest     Among the free, grouped with its sculptures rare;     As I approached, the morning's golden mist,     Which now the wonder-stricken breezes kissed     With their cold lips, fled, and the summit shone     Like Athos seen from Samothracia, dressed     In earliest light, by vintagers, and one     Sate there, a female Shape upon an ivory throne:     44.     A Form most like the imagined habitant     Of silver exhalations sprung from dawn,     By winds which feed on sunrise woven, to enchant     The faiths of men: all mortal eyes were drawn,     As famished mariners through strange seas gone     Gaze on a burning watch-tower, by the light     Of those divinest lineaments - alone     With thoughts which none could share, from that fair sight     I turned in sickness, for a veil shrouded her countenance bright.     45.     And neither did I hear the acclamations,     Which from brief silence bursting, filled the air     With her strange name and mine, from all the nations     Which we, they said, in strength had gathered there     From the sleep of bondage; nor the vision fair     Of that bright pageantry beheld, - but blind     And silent, as a breathing corpse did fare,     Leaning upon my friend, till like a wind     To fevered cheeks, a voice flowed o'er my troubled mind.     46.     Like music of some minstrel heavenly gifted,     To one whom fiends enthral, this voice to me;     Scarce did I wish her veil to be uplifted,     I was so calm and joyous. - I could see     The platform where we stood, the statues three     Which kept their marble watch on that high shrine,     The multitudes, the mountains, and the sea;     As when eclipse hath passed, things sudden shine     To men's astonished eyes most clear and crystalline.     47.     At first Laone spoke most tremulously:     But soon her voice the calmness which it shed     Gathered, and - 'Thou art whom I sought to see,     And thou art our first votary here,' she said:     'I had a dear friend once, but he is dead! -     And of all those on the wide earth who breathe,     Thou dost resemble him alone - I spread     This veil between us two that thou beneath     Shouldst image one who may have been long lost in death.     48.     'For this wilt thou not henceforth pardon me?     Yes, but those joys which silence well requite     Forbid reply; - why men have chosen me     To be the Priestess of this holiest rite     I scarcely know, but that the floods of light     Which flow over the world, have borne me hither     To meet thee, long most dear; and now unite     Thine hand with mine, and may all comfort wither     From both the hearts whose pulse in joy now beat together,     49.     'If our own will as others' law we bind,     If the foul worship trampled here we fear;     If as ourselves we cease to love our kind!' -     She paused, and pointed upwards - sculptured there     Three shapes around her ivory throne appear;     One was a Giant, like a child asleep     On a loose rock, whose grasp crushed, as it were     In dream, sceptres and crowns; and one did keep     Its watchful eyes in doubt whether to smile or weep;     50.     A Woman sitting on the sculptured disk     Of the broad earth, and feeding from one breast     A human babe and a young basilisk;     Her looks were sweet as Heaven's when loveliest     In Autumn eves. The third Image was dressed     In white wings swift as clouds in winter skies;     Beneath his feet, 'mongst ghastliest forms, repressed     Lay Faith, an obscene worm, who sought to rise,     While calmly on the Sun he turned his diamond eyes.     51.     Beside that Image then I sate, while she     Stood, mid the throngs which ever ebbed and flowed,     Like light amid the shadows of the sea     Cast from one cloudless star, and on the crowd     That touch which none who feels forgets, bestowed;     And whilst the sun returned the steadfast gaze     Of the great Image, as o'er Heaven it glode,     That rite had place; it ceased when sunset's blaze     Burned o'er the isles. All stood in joy and deep amaze -      - When in the silence of all spirits there     Laone's voice was felt, and through the air     Her thrilling gestures spoke, most eloquently fair: -     51.1.     'Calm art thou as yon sunset! swift and strong     As new-fledged Eagles, beautiful and young,     That float among the blinding beams of morning;     And underneath thy feet writhe Faith, and Folly,     Custom, and Hell, and mortal Melancholy -     Hark! the Earth starts to hear the mighty warning     Of thy voice sublime and holy;     Its free spirits here assembled     See thee, feel thee, know thee now, -     To thy voice their hearts have trembled     Like ten thousand clouds which flow     With one wide wind as it flies! -     Wisdom! thy irresistible children rise     To hail thee, and the elements they chain     And their own will, to swell the glory of thy train.     51.2.     'O Spirit vast and deep as Night and Heaven!     Mother and soul of all to which is given     The light of life, the loveliness of being,     Lo! thou dost re-ascend the human heart,     Thy throne of power, almighty as thou wert     In dreams of Poets old grown pale by seeing     The shade of thee; - now, millions start     To feel thy lightnings through them burning:     Nature, or God, or Love, or Pleasure,     Or Sympathy the sad tears turning     To mutual smiles, a drainless treasure,     Descends amidst us; - Scorn and Hate,     Revenge and Selfishness are desolate -     A hundred nations swear that there shall be     Pity and Peace and Love, among the good and free!     51.3.     'Eldest of things, divine Equality!     Wisdom and Love are but the slaves of thee,     The Angels of thy sway, who pour around thee     Treasures from all the cells of human thought,     And from the Stars, and from the Ocean brought,     And the last living heart whose beatings bound thee:     The powerful and the wise had sought     Thy coming, thou in light descending     O'er the wide land which is thine own     Like the Spring whose breath is blending     All blasts of fragrance into one,     Comest upon the paths of men! -     Earth bares her general bosom to thy ken,     And all her children here in glory meet     To feed upon thy smiles, and clasp thy sacred feet.     51.4     'My brethren, we are free! the plains and mountains,     The gray sea-shore, the forests and the fountains,     Are haunts of happiest dwellers; - man and woman,     Their common bondage burst, may freely borrow     From lawless love a solace for their sorrow;     For oft we still must weep, since we are human.     A stormy night's serenest morrow,     Whose showers are pity's gentle tears,     Whose clouds are smiles of those that die     Like infants without hopes or fears,     And whose beams are joys that lie     In blended hearts, now holds dominion;     The dawn of mind, which upwards on a pinion     Borne, swift as sunrise, far illumines space,     And clasps this barren world in its own bright embrace!     51.5     'My brethren, we are free! The fruits are glowing     Beneath the stars, and the night-winds are flowing     O'er the ripe corn, the birds and beasts are dreaming -     Never again may blood of bird or beast     Stain with its venomous stream a human feast,     To the pure skies in accusation steaming;     Avenging poisons shall have ceased     To feed disease and fear and madness,     The dwellers of the earth and air     Shall throng around our steps in gladness,     Seeking their food or refuge there.     Our toil from thought all glorious forms shall cull,     To make this Earth, our home, more beautiful,     And Science, and her sister Poesy,     Shall clothe in light the fields and cities of the free!     51.6     'Victory, Victory to the prostrate nations!     Bear witness Night, and ye mute Constellations     Who gaze on us from your crystalline cars!     Thoughts have gone forth whose powers can sleep no more!     Victory! Victory! Earth's remotest shore,     Regions which groan beneath the Antarctic stars,     The green lands cradled in the roar     Of western waves, and wildernesses     Peopled and vast, which skirt the oceans     Where morning dyes her golden tresses,     Shall soon partake our high emotions:     Kings shall turn pale! Almighty Fear,     The Fiend-God, when our charmed name he hear,     Shall fade like shadow from his thousand fanes,     While Truth with Joy enthroned o'er his lost empire reigns!'     51.52.     Ere she had ceased, the mists of night entwining     Their dim woof, floated o'er the infinite throng;     She, like a spirit through the darkness shining,     In tones whose sweetness silence did prolong,     As if to lingering winds they did belong,     Poured forth her inmost soul: a passionate speech     With wild and thrilling pauses woven among,     Which whoso heard was mute, for it could teach     To rapture like her own all listening hearts to reach.     53.     Her voice was as a mountain stream which sweeps     The withered leaves of Autumn to the lake,     And in some deep and narrow bay then sleeps     In the shadow of the shores; as dead leaves wake,     Under the wave, in flowers and herbs which make     Those green depths beautiful when skies are blue,     The multitude so moveless did partake     Such living change, and kindling murmurs flew     As o'er that speechless calm delight and wonder grew.     54.     Over the plain the throngs were scattered then     In groups around the fires, which from the sea     Even to the gorge of the first mountain-glen     Blazed wide and far: the banquet of the free     Was spread beneath many a dark cypress-tree,     Beneath whose spires, which swayed in the red flame,     Reclining, as they ate, of Liberty,     And Hope, and Justice, and Laone's name,     Earth's children did a woof of happy converse frame.     55.     Their feast was such as Earth, the general mother,     Pours from her fairest bosom, when she smiles     In the embrace of Autumn; - to each other     As when some parent fondly reconciles     Her warring children, she their wrath beguiles     With her own sustenance, they relenting weep:     Such was this Festival, which from their isles     And continents, and winds, and oceans deep,     All shapes might throng to share, that fly, or walk or creep, -     56.     Might share in peace and innocence, for gore     Or poison none this festal did pollute,     But, piled on high, an overflowing store     Of pomegranates and citrons, fairest fruit,     Melons, and dates, and figs, and many a root     Sweet and sustaining, and bright grapes ere yet     Accursed fire their mild juice could transmute     Into a mortal bane, and brown corn set     In baskets; with pure streams their thirsting lips they wet.     57.     Laone had descended from the shrine,     And every deepest look and holiest mind     Fed on her form, though now those tones divine     Were silent as she passed; she did unwind     Her veil, as with the crowds of her own kind     She mixed; some impulse made my heart refrain     From seeking her that night, so I reclined     Amidst a group, where on the utmost plain     A festal watchfire burned beside the dusky main.     58.     And joyous was our feast; pathetic talk,     And wit, and harmony of choral strains,     While far Orion o'er the waves did walk     That flow among the isles, held us in chains     Of sweet captivity which none disdains     Who feels; but when his zone grew dim in mist     Which clothes the Ocean's bosom, o'er the plains     The multitudes went homeward, to their rest,     Which that delightful day with its own shadow blessed.