Classic Poem

XXI

Yet pass not, gliding through the soundless streets,
Pisani's palace, where a greater dwelt
Than he; whose name humanity repeats,
As coming and departing life have felt
The spell which answering souls in common melt,
The magic of the beautiful; the grace
To which in its idolatry have knelt
Entranced spirits, forms that leave their trace
Deep in reflective hearts that time nor life efface.

XXII

Titian, the soul of colours, he who caught
Hues from his own Venetian sunsets till
The canvas lived with their rich tincture fraught;
A portion of his being to instil
Their lustrousness within him, and to fill
Himself with beauty that a glory threw
Around his name; kings waited on the will
Of him who gave them fame; whose pencil drew
Forms that, resolved to dust, from him their life renew.

XXIII

Mark yon grey palace, Could we pass nor pay
A reverential tribute to the one,
Its tenant for the hour, a lightning ray
That flashing passed from men? but, as yon sun,
His fame is central; and when waves have won
Their own, and Venice and her tale forgot,
B YRON ! thy race of fame shall be begun;
Eternity dwells in the poet's thought,
Monarch of memory, his life within it wrought.

XXIV

He passed; that death-knell struck upon each heart,
As if it mourned for a departed friend;
For his existence had become a part
Of his own country, eager to defend,
And proud, even while she blamed him; for the end
Of his quick life in crowning glory set;
Greece with her heroes loved his name to blend;
His sun-like song, too early doomed to set,
Inspired the answering soul, and dared it to forget.

XXV

Long as man's heart to Nature shall aspire
For that communion where no foot intrudes,
Long as he listens to the solemn choir
Of mountains, thunderstorms, and ocean-floods;
Long as the mind, in its awakened moods,
On life, and passion's workings, loves to dwell,
Or thoughts that haunt us in our solitudes;
So long, like a perturbing oracle,
Shall Harold's verse enchain the future to its spell.

XXVI

A scene of desolate mountain loneliness,
To which the howling winds lend fitting tongue;
But a deep sense of joy, the consciousness
Of freedom, thrills me as I walk along,
Till gratitude pours forth itself in song
For the great boon of life. Oh, what are worth
The raptures felt convention's crowds among,
To his who walks in clouds above the earth,
Pure as its fountain-streams in their sky-nurtured birth?

XXVII

This flying moment, this brief point of time,
Arrest, ere be the inspiration passed
Drawn from yon altar-place of crags sublime;
Wildly through blasted pine-groves sweeps the blast,
That on the heath, like fallen angels cast,
Raise up their shivered arms to heaven; but lo!
Yon lake beneath expands its bosom vast;
I stand by its white waves that foam below,
Typing the Ocean's wrath when heaves its mane of snow.

XXVIII

The azure Thrasimene! how the name
Calls up the quickened life-blood to the heart!
Visions of fight and old heroic fame
Before the mind's eye into being start,
Deeds which their inspiration still impart.
Here fell the Romans' eagle wings outspread,
Struck in the storm by Jove's ethereal dart;
Here valour sank, his blood like water shed,
Dying upon his foe, the Roman never fled.

XXIX

All strife was vain, the darkening mists rolled down,
Blinded them, hemmed in yon defiling strand,
While the foe rushing from the mountain's crown,
Swept, flank, and rear on that devoted band;
Vain their wild rally, vainer still their stand!
Yet frantic courage hewed its desperate way
To where yon ridge's triple heights expand.
Conquered and conqueror's dust have passed away,
But that once blood-dyed stream records the dreadful day.

XXX

Farewell to themes like these! A woodland scene
Of pine-crowned heights, above the path impending,
Declines upon a bank of living green;
The eye dwells lovingly there, to Nature lending
Its own deep quiet; with her beauty blending
The spirit that its life from her imbues,
From the rich grass the violet's breath ascending
Fills the fine air with odours that infuse
Our being with the breath and feeling of her hues.