Six hasty strides beyond the place, And talk'd with him of Cain; And, long since then, of bloody men, And how the sprites of injured men He told how murderers walk'd the earth "And well," quoth he, "I know, for truth, Their pangs must be extreme,— Wo, wo, unutterable wo Who spill life's sacred stream! For why Methought, last night, I wrought A murder in a dream! "One that had never done me wrongA feeble man, and old; I led him to a lonely field, The moon shone clear and cold: Now here, said I, this man shall die, And I will have his gold! "Two sudden blows with a ragged stick, "Nothing but lifeless flesh and bone, That murder could not kill! "And, lo! the universal air Seem'd lit with ghastly flame,— "O God, it made me quake to see The blood gush'd out amain! Was scorching in my brain! "My head was like an ardent coal, My heart as solid ice; My wretched, wretched soul, I knew, A dozen times I groan'd; the dead "I took the dreary body up, And cast it in a stream,- "Down went the corse with a hollow plunge, And vanish'd in the pool; Anon I cleansed my bloody hands And wash'd my forehead cool, And sat among the urchins young That evening in the school! "O heaven, to think of their white souls, I could not share in childish prayer, "And peace went with them one and all, And drew my midnight curtains round, "All night I lay in agony, In anguish dark and deep; The keys of hell to keep! "All night I lay in agony, From weary chime to chime, "One stern, tyrannic thought, that made Did that temptation crave,- The dead man in his grave! "Heavily I rose up,--as soon As light was in the sky,- But I never mark'd its morning flight, I never heard it sing: For I was stooping once again Under the horrid thing. "With breathless speed, like a soul in chase, I took him up and ran,— There was no time to dig a grave Before the day began: In a lonesome wood, with heaps of leaves, I hid the murder'd man! "And all that day I read in school, But my thought was other where; As soon as the mid-day task was done, In secret I was there: And a mighty wind had swept the leaves, And still the corse was bare! "Then down I cast me on my face, And first began to weep, For I knew my secret then was one And trodden down with stones, "O God, that horrid, horrid dream And my red right hand grows raging hot, "And still no peace for the restless clay Will wave or mould allow; The horrid thing pursues my soul,- That very night, while gentle sleep The urchin eyelids kiss'd, Two stern-faced men set out from Lynn, Through the cold and heavy mist; And Eugene Aram walk'd between, With gyves upon his wrist. THE SYLVAN FAIRY. THEN next a merry woodsman, clad in green, On trees, and all their furniture of green, Training the young boughs airily to bend, And show blue snatches of the sky between:Or knit more close intricacies, to screen Birds' crafty dwellings as may hide them best, But most the timid blackbird's-she, that seen, Will bear black poisonous berries to her nest, Lest man should cage the darlings of her breast. "We bend each tree in proper attitude, And founting willows train in silvery falls; We frame all shady roofs and arches rude, And verdant aisles leading to Dryad's halls, Or deep recesses where the echo calls;— We shape all plumy trees against the sky, And carve tall elms' Corinthian capitals,— When sometimes, as our tiny hatchets ply, Men say, the tapping woodpecker is nigh. "Sometimes we scoop the squirrel's hollow cell, And sometimes carve quaint letters on trees' rind, That haply some lone musing wight may spell Dainty Aminta,-Gentle Rosalind, Or chastest Laura,-sweetly call'd to mind In sylvan solitudes, ere he lies down ; And sometimes we enrich gray stems, with twined And fragrant ivy,—or rich moss, whose brown Burns into gold as the warm sun goes down. "And, lastly, for mirth's sake and Christmas cheer, We bear the seedling berries, for increase, To graft the Druid oaks, from year to year, Careful that misletoe may never cease;― Wherefore, if thou dost prize the shady peace Of sombre forests, or to see light break Through sylvan cloisters, and in spring release Thy spirit amongst leaves from careful ake, Spare us our lives for the green Dryad's sake." ARIEL AND THE SUICIDE. LET me remember how I saved a man, And overheard his melancholy plan, Through brake and tangled copse, for much he loath'd All populous haunts, and roam'd in forests rude, To hide himself from man. But I had clothed My delicate limbs with plumes, and still pursued, Where only foxes and wild cats intrude, Till we were come beside an ancient tree Late blasted by a storm. Here he renew'd His loud complaints,-choosing that spot to be The scene of his last horrid tragedy. It was a wild and melancholy glen, Made gloomy by tall firs and cypress dark, Whose roots, like any bones of buried men, Push'd through the rotten sod for fear's remark; A hundred horrid stems, jagged and stark, Wrestled with crooked arms in hideous fray, Besides sleek ashes with their dappled bark, Suddenly I pronounced so sweet a strain, Which through his ardent eyes began to drain ;Meanwhile the deadly fates unclosed their shears ;So pity me and all my fated peers. FAIR INES. Он, saw ye not fair Ines? She's gone into the west, The smiles that we love best, With morning blushes on her cheek, And pearls upon her breast. Oh turn again, fair Ines, Before the fall of night, For fear the moon should shine alone, That walks beneath their light, And breathes the love against thy cheek I dare not even write! Would I had been, fair Ines, That gallant cavalier And whisper'd thee so near!Were there no bonny dames at home, Or no true lovers here, That he should cross the seas to win The dearest of the dear? I saw thee, lovely Ines, It would have been a beauteous dream, Alas, alas, fair Ines, She went away with song, With music waiting on her steps, And shoutings of the throng; But some were sad and felt no mirth, But only music's wrong, In sounds that sang Farewell, farewell, To her you've loved so long. Farewell, farewell, fair Ines, That vessel never bore So fair a lady on its deck, Nor danced so light before,Alas for pleasure on the sea, And sorrow on the shore! The smile that blest one lover's heart Has broken many more! SIGH ON, SAD HEART!. SIGH on, sad heart, for love's eclipse, The diamonds glancing in her hair, Her dress seem'd wove of lily leaves Oh lofty wears, and lowly weaves, But hoddan gray is mine; Alas! there's far from russet frize "Tis vain to weep-'tis vain to sigh, My tears may never reach; My speech is rude,-but speech is weak Yet had I words, I dare not speak, So, lady, fare thee well; I will not wish thy better state |