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.The poor folk of the sea-country I blestWith daily boon of fish most delicate:They knew not whence this bounty, and elateWould strew sweet flowers on a sterile beach.‘Why was I not contented? Wherefore reachAt things which, but for thee, O Latmian!Had been my dreary death! Fool! I beganTo feel distemper’d longings: to desireThe utmost privilege that ocean’s sireCould grant in benediction: to be freeOf all his kingdom.Long in miseryI wasted, ere in one extremest fitI plunged for life or death.To interknitOne’s senses with so dense a breathing stuffMight seem a work of pain; so not enoughCan I admire how crystal-smooth it felt,And buoyant round my limbs.At first I dweltWhole days and days in sheer astonishment;Forgetful utterly of self-intent;Moving but with the mighty ebb and flow.Then, like a new-fledged bird that first doth showHis spreaded feathers to the morrow chill,I tried in fear the pinions of my will.’Twas freedom! and at once I visitedThe ceaseless wonders of this ocean-bed.No need to tell thee of them, for I seeThat thou hast been a witness–it must be–For these I know thou canst not feel a drouth,By the melancholy corners of that mouth.So I will in my story straightway passTo more immediate matter.Woe, alas!That love should be my bane! Ah, Scylla, fair!Why did poor Glaucus ever–ever dareTo sue thee to his heart? Kind stranger-youth!I loved her to the very white of truth,And she would not conceive it.Timid thing!She fled me swift as sea-bird on the wing,Round every isle, and point, and promontory,From where large Hercules wound up his storyFar as Egyptian Nile.My passion grewThe more, the more I saw her dainty hueGleam delicately through the azure clear:Until ’twas too fierce agony to bear;And in that agony, across my griefIt flash’d, that Circe might find some relief–Cruel enchantress! So above the waterI rear’d my head, and look’d for Phœbus’ daughter.Ææa’s isle was wondering at the moon:–It seem’d to whirl around me, and a swoonLeft me dead-drifting to that fatal power.‘When I awoke, ’twas in a twilight bower;Just when the light of morn, with hum of bees,Stole through its verdurous matting of fresh trees.How sweet, and sweeter! for I heard a lyre,And over it a sighing voice expire.It ceased–I caught light footsteps; and anonThe fairest face that morn e’er looked uponPush’d through a screen of roses.Starry Jove!With tears, and smiles, and honey-words she woveA net whose thraldom was more bliss than allThe range of flower’d Elysium.Thus did fallThe dew of her rich speech: “Ah! art awake?O let me hear thee speak, for Cupid’s sake!I am so oppress’d with joy! Why, I have shedAn urn of tears, as though thou wert cold dead;And now I find thee living, I will pourFrom these devoted eyes their silver store,Until exhausted of the latest drop,So it will pleasure thee, and force thee stopHere, that I too may live; but if beyondSuch cool and sorrowful offerings, thou art fondOf soothing warmth, of dalliance supreme;If thou art ripe to taste a long love-dream;If smiles, if dimples, tongues for ardour mute,Hang in thy vision like a tempting fruit,O let me pluck it for thee!” Thus she link’dHer charming syllables, till indistinctTheir music came to my o’er-sweeten’d soul;And then she hover’d over me, and stoleSo near, that if no nearer it had beenThis furrow’d visage thou hadst never seen.‘Young man of Latmos! thus particularAm I, that thou may’st plainly see how farThis fierce temptation went: and thou may’st notExclaim, How then? was Scylla quite forgot?‘Who could resist? Who in this universe?She did so breathe ambrosia; so immerseMy fine existence in a golden clime.She took me like a child of suckling time,And cradled me in roses.Thus condemn’d,The current of my former life was stemm’d,And to this arbitrary queen of senseI bow’d a trancèd vassal: nor would thenceHave moved, even though Amphion’s harp had woo’dMe back to Scylla o’er the billows rude.For as Apollo each eve doth deviseA new apparelling for western skies;So every eve, nay, every spendthrift hourShed balmy consciousness within that bower [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]