211

220

Such as our Turkish neighbourhood Hath mingled with our Polish blood, Dark as above us is the sky; But through it stole a tender light, Like the first moonrise of midnight; Large, dark, and swimming in the stream, Which seemed to melt to its own beam; All love, half languor, and half fire, Like saints that at the stake expire, And lift their raptured looks on high, As though it were a joy to die. A brow like a midsummer lake, Transparent with the sun therein, When waves no murmur dare to make, And Heaven beholds her face within. A cheek and lip but why proceed? I loved her then, I love her still; And such as I am, love indeed - in good and ill. But still we love even in our rage, And haunted to our very age With the vain shadow of the past, As is Mazeppa to the last.

-

In fierce extremes

VI.

--

230

"We met we gazed I saw, and sighed;

She did not speak, and yet replied;

There are ten thousand tones and signs
We hear and see, but none defines -
Involuntary sparks of thought,
Which strike from out the heart o'er-
wrought,

And form a strange intelligence,
Alike mysterious and intense,
Which link the burning chain that binds,
Without their will, young hearts and
minds;

241

Conveying, as the electric wire,
We know not how, the absorbing fire.
I saw, and sighed - in silence wept,
And still reluctant distance kept,
Until I was made known to her,
And we might then and there confer
Without suspicion - then, even then,
I longed, and was resolved to speak;
But on my lips they died again,
250

The accents tremulous and weak,
Until one hour. There is a game,
A frivolous and foolish play,
Wherewith we while away the day;
It is I have forgot the name
And we to this, it seems, were set,
By some strange chance, which I forget:
I recked not if I won or lost,

It was enough for me to be

So near to hear, and oh! to see 260 The being whom I loved the most. I watched her as a sentinel,

(May ours this dark night watch as well!)

Until I saw, and thus it was,
That she was pensive, nor perceived
Her occupation, nor was grieved
Nor glad to lose or gain; but still
Played on for hours, as if her will
Yet bound her to the place, though not
That hers might be the winning lot. 270
Then through my brain the thought
did pass,

Even as a flash of lightning there,
That there was something in her air
Which would not doom me to despair;
And on the thought my words broke
forth,

--

All incoherent as they were; Their eloquence was little worth, But yet she listened - 'tis enough Who listens once will listen twice; Her heart, be sure, is not of ice 280 And one refusal no rebuff.

VII.

"I loved, and was beloved again
They tell me, Sire, you never knew
Those gentle frailties; if 'tis true,
I shorten all my joy or pain;
To you 'twould seem absurd as vain;
But all men are not born to reign,
Or o'er their passions, or as you
Thus o'er themselves and nations too.
I am or rather was a Prince, 290
A chief of thousands, and could lead
Them on where each would foremost
bleed;

But could not o'er myself evince
The like control - But to resume:
I loved, and was beloved again;
In sooth, it is a happy doom,

300 all

But yet where happiest ends in pain. We met in secret, and the hour Which led me to that lady's bower Was fiery Expectation's dower. My days and nights were nothing Except that hour which doth recall, In the long lapse from youth to age, No other like itself: I'd give The Ukraine back again to live It o'er once more, and be a page, The happy page, who was the lord Of one soft heart, and his own sword, And had no other gem nor wealth, Save Nature's gift of Youth and Health. We met in secret doubly sweet, 311 Some say, they find it so to meet; I know not that I would have given My life but to have called her mine In the full view of Earth and Heaven; For I did oft and long repine That we could only meet by stealth.

Nor of its fields a blade of grass,

or

Save what grows on a ridge of wall, Where stood the hearth-stone of the hall;

And many a time ye there might pass, Nor dream that e'er the fortress was. 401 I saw its turrets in a blaze,

Their crackling battlements all cleft,

And the hot lead pour down like rain From off the scorched and blackening roof

Whose thickness was not vengeanceproof.

They little thought that day of pain, When launched, as on the lightning's flash,

They bade me to destruction dash,

That one day I should come again, With twice five thousand horse, to thank 411

The Count for his uncourteous ride. They played me then a bitter prank, When, with the wild horse for my guide,

I could have answered with a sighBut fast we fled, away! away! And I could neither sigh nor pray; And my cold sweat-drops fell like rain Upon the courser's bristling mane; But, snorting still with rage and fear, He flew upon his far career:

At times I almost thought, indeed,
He must have slackened in his speed;
But no- my bound and slender frame

Was nothing to his angry might, 451
And merely like a spur became:
Each motion which I made to free
My swoln limbs from their agony

Increased his fury and affright: I tried my voice, - 'twas faint and

low

Which, oozing through my limbs, ran o'er;

And in my tongue the thirst became
A something fierier far than flame.

XII.

"We neared the wild wood - 'twas so wide,

I saw no bounds on either side:
'Twas studded with old sturdy trees,
That bent not to the roughest breeze
Which howls down from Siberia's waste,
And strips the forest in its haste,
But these were few and far between, 470
Set thick with shrubs more young and
green,

Luxuriant with their annual leaves,
Ere strown by those autumnal eves
That nip the forest's foliage dead,
Discoloured with a lifeless red,
Which stands thereon like stiffened gore
Upon the slain when battle's o'er;
And some long winter's night hath shed
Its frost o'er every tombless head-
So cold and stark - the raven's
beak
480
May peck unpierced each frozen cheek:
'Twas a wild waste of underwood,
And here and there a chestnut stood,
The strong oak, and the hardy pine;
But far apart and well it were,
Or else a different lot were mine -

The boughs gave way, and did not

tear

My limbs; and I found strength to bear My wounds, already scarred with cold; My bonds forbade to loose my hold. 490 We rustled through the leaves like wind,

Left shrubs, and trees, and wolves behind;

By night I heard them on the track, Their troop came hard upon our back, With their long gallop, which can tire The hound's deep hate, and hunter's fire:

Where'er we flew they followed on, Nor left us with the morning sun; Behind I saw them, scarce a rood, At day-break winding through the wood, 500 And through the night had heard their feet

And strove to wake; but could not make

My senses climb up from below:

I felt as on a plank at sea,

When all the waves that dash o'er thee,

At the same time upheave and whelm,
And hurl thee towards a desert realm.
My undulating life was as

The fancied lights that flitting pass
Our shut eyes in deep midnight, when
Fever begins upon the brain; 560
But soon it passed, with little pain,

But a confusion worse than such:
I own that I should deem it much,
Dying, to feel the same again;
And yet I do suppose we must
Feel far more e'er we turn to dust!
No matter! I have bared my brow
Full in Death's face before

now.

XIV.

- and

"My thoughts came back. Where was I? Cold,

And numb, and giddy:

pulse by 570

pulse Life reassumed its lingering hold, And throb by throb, till grown a pang Which for a moment would convulse, My blood reflowed, though thick and chill;

My ear with uncouth noises rang,

My heart began once more to thrill; My sight returned, though dim; alas! And thickened, as it were, with glass. Methought the dash of waves was nigh; There was a gleam too of the sky, 580 Studded with stars; it is no dream; The wild horse swims the wilder stream! The bright broad river's gushing tide Sweeps, winding onward, far and wide, And we are half-way, struggling o'er To yon unknown and silent shore. The waters broke my hollow trance, And with a temporary strength

My stiffened limbs were rebaptized.

"With glossy skin, and dripping mane, And reeling limbs, and reeking flank, The wild steed's sinewy nerves still strain Up the repelling bank.

We gain the top: a boundless plain Spreads through the shadow of the night,

And onward, onward, onward ·
seems,

Like precipices in our dreams,
To stretch beyond the sight;
And here and there a speck of white, 610
Or scattered spot of dusky green,
In masses broke into the light,
As rose the moon upon my right:

But nought distinctly seen

In the dim waste would indicate
The omen of a cottage gate;
No twinkling taper from afar
Stood like a hospitable star;
Not even an ignis-fatuus rose
To make him merry with my woes: 620
That very cheat had cheered me then!
Although detected, welcome still,
Reminding me, through every ill,
Of the abodes of men.