She, guiltless damsel, flying the mad pursuit Of her enraged stepdame Guendolen, Commended her fair innocence to the flood, They stayed her flight with his crossflowing course. The water-nymphs that in the bottom played, Held up their pearlèd wrists, and took her in, Bearing her straight to aged Nereus' hall, Who, piteous of her woes, reared her lank head, And gave her to his daughters to imbathe In nectared lavers strewed with asphodel, And through the porch and inlet of each sense Dropped in ambrosial oils, till she revived, And underwent a quick immortal change, Made Goddess of the river: still she retains Her maiden gentleness, and oft at eve Visits the herds along the twilight meadows, Helping all urchin blasts, and illluck signs That the shrewd meddling elf delights to make, Which she with precious vialled liquors heals; For which the shepherds at their festivals Carol her goodness loud in rustic lays, And throw sweet garland wreaths into her stream Of pansies, pinks, and gaudy daffodils, And, as the old swain said, she can unlock The clasping charm, and thaw the numbing spell, If she be right invoked in warbled song; For maidenhood she loves, and will be swift Listen where thou art sitting Under the glassy, cool, translucent wave, In twisted braids of lilies knitting The loose train of thy amber-dropping hair; Listen for dear honor's sake, Listen and appear to us In name of great Oceanus, And Tethys' grave majestic pace, Sleeking her soft alluring locks, And bridle in thy headlong wave, Till thou our summons answered have. Listen and save. O'er the cowslip's velvet head, Spir. Goddess dear, We implore thy powerful hand Of unblest enchanter vile. Sabr.—Shepherd, 'tis my office To help ensnared chastity: I touch with chaste palms moist and cold: Now the spell hath lost his hold; And I must haste ere morning hour To wait in Amphitrite's bower. SABRINA descends, and the LADY rises out of her seat. Spir.-Virgin, daughter of Lo- Sprung of old Anchises' line, And not many furlongs thence But night sits monarch yet in the mid sky. The Scene changes, presenting Ludlow town and the President's castle; then come in country dancers, after them the ATTENDANT SPIRIT, with the Two BROTHERS, and the LADY. There I suck the liquid air Thither all their bounties bring; Holds his dear Psyche sweet en tranced, After her wandering labors long, And from her fair unspotted side But now my task is smoothly done, I can fly, or I can run Quickly to the green earth's end, Where the bowed welkin slow doth bend, And from thence can soar as soon Mortals, that would follow me, MYTHOLOGY. O NEVER rudely will I blame his faith In the might of stars and angels! 'Tis not merely The human being's Pride that peoples space With life and mystical predominance; Since likewise for the stricken heart of Love This visible nature, and this common world, Is all too narrow: yea, a deeper import Lurks in the legend told my infant years Than lies upon that truth we live to learn. For fable is Love's world, his home, his birthplace: Delightedly dwells he 'mong fays and talismans, And spirits; and delightedly believes The fair humanities of old religion, The power, the beauty, and the majesty, That had their haunts in dale, or piny mountain, Or forest by slow stream, or pebbly spring, Or chasms and watery depths; all these have vanished; They live no longer in the faith of As still was her look, and as still was her ee, As the stillness that lay on the emerant lea, Or the mist that sleeps on a waveless sea. For Kilmeny had been she knew not where, And Kilmeny had seen what she could not declare; Kilmeny had been where the cock never crew, Where the rain never fell, and the wind never blew; But it seemed as the harp of the sky had rung, And the airs of heaven played round her tongue, When she spake of the lovely forms she had seen, And a land where sin had never been A land of love and a land of light, Withouten sun, or moon, or night; And lovely beings round were rife, Who erst had travelled mortal life; They clasped her waist and her hands sae fair, They kissed her cheek and they kemed her hair; And round came many a blooming fere, Saying, "Bonny Kilmeny, ye're welcome here! Oh, bonny Kilmeny, free frae stain, If ever you seek the world again That world of sin, of sorrow, and fear O, tell of the joys that are waiting here! And tell of the signs you shall shortly see, Of the times that are now, and the times that shall be." But to sing of the sights Kilmeny saw, So far surpassing Nature's law, But she saw till the sorrows of man were by, And all was love and harmony; away, Like the flakes of snaw on a winter's day. Lifts me above the ground with cheerful thoughts. I dreamt my lady came and found me dead; (Strange dream that gives a dead man leave to think,) And breathed such life with kisses in my lips, That I revived and was an emperor. Ah, me! how sweet is love itself possessed When but love's shadows are so rich in joy. SHAKSPEARE: Romeo and Juliet. SHIPS AT SEA. I HAVE ships that went to sea While around them screamed the gulls, Flying low, flying low. I have wondered why they staid From me, sailing round the world; And I've said, "I'm half afraid That their sails will ne'er be Great the treasures that they hold, – Every sailor in the port Knows that I have ships at sea, Of the waves and winds the sport; And the sailors pity me. Oft they come and with me walk, Cheering me with hopeful talk, Till I put my fears aside, And contented watch the tide Rise and fall, rise and fall. I have waited on the piers, Gazing for them down the bay, Days and nights, for many years, Till I turned heart-sick away. But the pilots, when they land, Stop and take me by the hand, |