At times the whole sea burn'd, at times VIII For one fair Vision ever fled Down the waste waters day and night, IX And now we lost her, now she gleam'd Now high on waves that idly burst Like Heavenly Hope she crown'd the sea, And now, the bloodless point reversed, She bore the blade of Liberty. X And only one among us-him We pleased not-he was seldom pleased: He saw not far: his eyes were dim : But ours he swore were all diseased. 'A ship of fools,' he shriek'd in spite, 'A ship of fools,' he sneer'd and wept. And overboard one stormy night He cast his body, and on we swept. XI And never sail of ours was furl'd, peace, And to and thro' the counter gale? XII Again to colder climes we came, But, blind or lame or sick or sound, SIR LAUNCELOT AND QUEEN GUINEVERE A FRAGMENT LIKE souls that balance joy and pain, In crystal vapour everywhere Blue isles of heaven laugh'd between, Sometimes the linnet piped his song: Sometimes the throstle whistled strong : Sometimes the sparhawk, wheel'd along, Hush'd all the groves from fear of wrong: By grassy capes with fuller sound In curves the yellowing river ran, And drooping chestnut-buds began Then, in the boyhood of the year, A She seem'd a part of joyous Spring: Now on some twisted ivy-net, Her cream-white mule his pastern set: When all the glimmering moorland rings As fast she fled thro' sun and shade, The rein with dainty finger-tips, A man had given all other bliss, A FAREWELL FLOW down, cold rivulet, to the sea, Thy tribute wave deliver: No more by thee my steps shall be, For ever and for ever. Flow, softly flow, by lawn and lea, No where by thee my steps shall be, But here will sigh thine alder tree, And here thine aspen shiver; And here by thee will hum the bee, For ever and for ever. A thousand suns will stream on thee, A thousand moons will quiver ; But not by thee my steps shall be, For ever and for ever. |