And with the Spirit of the place divide The homage of these waters.-I will call her. (MANFRED takes some of the water into the palm of MAN. Beautiful Spirit! with thy hair of light, To an unearthly stature, in an essence Of purer elements; while the hues of youth,- Rock'd by the beating of her mother's heart, The blush of earth embracing with her heaven,- The beauties of the sunbow which bends o'er thee. I read that thou wilt pardon to a Son Of Earth, whom the abstruser powers permit And gaze on thee a moment. WITCH. Son of Earth! I know thee, and the powers which give thee power; I know thee for a man of many thoughts, And deeds of good and ill, extreme in both, Fatal and fated in thy sufferings. I have expected this-what wouldst thou with me? MAN. To look upon thy beauty-nothing further. The face of the earth hath madden'd me, and I Take refuge in her mysteries, and pierce To the abodes of those who govern her But they can nothing aid me. I have sought From them what they could not bestow, and now I search no further. WITCH. What could be the quest Which is not in the power of the most powerful, ΜΑΝ. A boon; But why should I repeat it? 'twere in vain. WITCH. I know not that; let thy lips utter it. MAN. Well, though it torture me, 'tis but the same; My pang shall find a voice. From my youth upwards My spirit walk'd not with the souls of men, The difficult air of the iced mountain's top, Into the torrent, and to roll along On the swift whirl of the new breaking wave In these my early strength exulted; or To follow through the night the moving moon, D The dazzling lightnings till my eyes grew dim; And was all clay again. And then I dived, The nights of years in sciences untaught, As in itself hath power upon the air, And spirits that do compass air and earth, Such as, before me, did the Magi, and He who from out their fountain dwellings raised Eros and Anteros, (2) at Gadara, As I do thee;-and with my knowledge grew The thirst of knowledge, and the power and joy MAN. Oh! I but thus prolong'd my words, With whom I wore the chain of human ties; If I had such, they seem'd not such to me— Yet there was one WITCH. Spare not thyself-proceed. MAN. She was like me in lineaments-her eyes, Her hair, her features, all, to the very tone Even of her voice, they said were like to mine; But soften'd all, and temper'd into beauty; She had the same lone thoughts and wanderings, The quest of hidden knowledge, and a mind To comprehend the universe: nor these Alone, but with them gentler powers than mine, Pity, and smiles, and tears-which I had not; And tenderness-but that I had for her; Humility-and that I never had. |