Come, blooming Hero, place thee by my side! Give, on this well-known couch, one nuptial kiss To me, this day, a second time thy bride!" Jove frowned in heaven; the conscious Parcæ threw Upon those roseate lips a Stygian hue. "This visage tells thee that my doom is past : And surely as they vanish.—Earth destroys "Be taught, O faithful Consort, to control Thy transports moderate; and meekly mourn “Ah, wherefore ?—Did not Hercules by force Wrest from the guardian Monster of the tomb Alcestis, a reanimated corse Given back to dwell on earth in vernal bloom? Medea's spells dispersed the weight of years, And Æson stood a youth 'mid youthful peers. "The Gods to us are merciful--and they Yet further may relent: for mightier far Than strength of nerve and sinew, or the sway Of magic potent over sun and star, Is love, though oft to agony distrest, And though his favourite seat be feeble woman's breast. “But if thou goest I follow—” said "Peace!" he She looked upon him and was calmed and cheered; The ghastly colour from his lips had fled; Brought from a pensive, though a happy place. He spake of love, such love as Spirits feel Of all that is most beauteous-imaged there In happier beauty; more pellucid streams, An ampler ether, a diviner air, And fields invested with purpureal gleams; Climes which the sun, who sheds the brightest day Earth knows, is all unworthy to survey. Yet there the Soul shall enter which hath earned That privilege by virtue.-" Ill," said he, "The end of man's existence I discerned, Who from ignoble games and revelry Could draw, when we had parted, vain delight While tears were thy best pastime,-day and night: "And while my youthful peers, before my eyes (Each hero following his peculiar bent), Prepared themselves for glorious enterprise By martial sports,—or, seated in the tent, Chieftains and kings in council were detained; What time the fleet at Aulis lay enchained. "The wished-for wind was given :-I then revolved The oracle, upon the silent sea; And, if no worthier led the way, resolved "Yet bitter, oft-times bitter, was the pang The paths which we had trod-these fountains -flowers; My new-planned cities, and unfinished towers. "But should suspense permit the Foe to cry, 'Behold, they tremble !-haughty their array, Yet of their number no one dares to die !'In soul I swept the indignity away. Old frailties then recurred :-but lofty thought, In act embodied, my deliverance wrought. "And Thou, though strong in love, art all too weak In reason, in self-government too slow; I counsel thee by fortitude to seek Our blest re-union in the shades below. "Learn by a mortal yearning to ascend Towards a higher object.-Love was given, Encouraged, sanctioned, chiefly for that end: For this the passion to excess was driven― That self might be annulled: her bondage prove The fetters of a dream, opposed to love." Aloud she shrieked! for Hermes re-appears : Round the dear Shade she would have clung -'tis vain. The hours are past-too brief had they been years; And him no mortal effort can detain : Swift, toward the realms that know not earthly day, He through the portal takes his silent way, And on the palace floor a lifeless corse She lay. Ah, judge her gently who so deeply loved! Yet tears to human suffering are due ; From out the tomb of him for whom she died; |