XXXI.

“They twinkling shone with radiance keen,
With eyes whose brightness dazzled mine;
And thousands round the walls were seen,
With hands upraised in prayer divine.

XXXII.

“Before me, 'mid a depth of gloom,
I marked one high enormous shade,
And him I knew, compelled by whom
His giant hand I first obeyed.

XXXIII.

“Like some great dusky crag he towered,
In cloudy folds involved and dim;
As midnight's darkest heaven he lowered,
The world's whole strength reposed in him.

XXXIV.

“But, oh! a form before him lay,
And watch o'er this he seemed to keep;
'Twas Henry's form in twilight grey,
That corpse-like slept an icy sleep.

XXXV.

“And when that frozen face I saw,
So calm, so chill, without a breath,
I knew the Giant Shadow's Law,
And owned the king was Death.

XXXVI.

“The dread lips moved; a voice there came,
Like midnight wind in trees;
All shook around, as waves a flame
Beneath a gusty breeze.

XXXVII.

“‘I claim my own,’ the shadow said;
‘If any answers, No!
His life must ransom this, my dead,
Who thus shall 'scape from woe.’

XXXVIII.

“O'er all those Angel faces fell
A sad and helpless gloom;
The building seemed a mouldering cell,
A dark eternal tomb.

XXXIX.

“Then loud I spake, with swelling voice,—
‘To him thy respite give,
And hear, O! Spirit, hear my choice
To die that he may live.’

XL.

“Before the lowly bier I knelt,
And kissed the lips and eyes,
And o'er the face a warmth I felt,
And saw new life arise.