LV

Descends on me; my spirit's bark is driven

      Far from the shore, far from the trembling throng

      Whose sails were never to the tempest given;

The massy earth and sphered skies are riven!

      I am borne darkly, fearfully, afar;

      Whilst, burning through the inmost veil of Heaven,

      The soul of Adonais, like a star,

Beacons from the abode where the Eternal are.

Passages of the Poem

And ever as he went he swept a lyre

      Of unaccustomed shape, and strings

      Now like the of impetuous fire,

      Which shakes the forest with its murmurings,

      Now like the rush of the aëreal wings

      Of the enamoured wind among the treen,

      Whispering unimaginable things,

      And dying on the streams of dew serene,

Which feed the unmown meads with ever-during green.

* * * * * * * And the green Paradise which western waves

      Embosom in their ever-wailing sweep,

      Talking of freedom to their tongueless caves,

      Or to the spirits which within them keep

      A record of the wrongs which, though they sleep,

      Die not, but dream of retribution, heard

      His hymns, and echoing them from steep to steep,

      Kept——* * * * * * * And then came one of sweet and earnest looks,

      Whose soft smiles to his dark and night-like eyes

      Were as the clear and ever-living brooks

      Are to the obscure fountains whence they rise,

      Showing how pure they are: a Paradise

      Of happy truth upon his forehead low

      Lay, making wisdom lovely, in the guise

      Of earth-awakening morn upon the brow

Of star-deserted heaven, while ocean gleams below.

      His song, though very sweet, was low and faint,

      A simple strain ——* * * * * * * A mighty Phantasm, half concealed

      In darkness of his own exceeding light,

      Which clothed his awful presence unrevealed,

      Charioted on the night

      Of thunder-smoke, whose skirts were chrysolite.

      And like a sudden meteor, which outstrips

      The splendour-wingèd chariot of the sun,

                                                                                    eclipse

      The armies of the golden stars, each one

      Pavilioned in its tent of light—all strewn

      Over the chasms of blue night——