this was woe

but sure and slow:

He faded, and so calm and meek,

So softly worn, so sweetly weak,

So tearless, yet so tender,

kind,

not

And grieved for those he left behind;
With all the while a cheek whose bloom
Was as a mockery of the tomb,
Whose tints as gently sunk away
As a departing rainbow's ray,
An eye of most transparent light,
That almost made the dungeon bright,
And not a word of murmur,
A groan o'er his untimely lot,
A little talk of better days,
A little hope my own to raise,
For I was sunk in silence, - lost
In this last loss, of all the most;
And then the sighs he would suppress
Of fainting nature's feebleness,
More slowly drawn, grew less and less :
I listened, but I could not hear,
I called, for I was wild with fear;
I knew 't was hopeless, but my dread
Would not be thus admonished;
I called, and thought I heard a sound,
I burst my chain with one strong bound,
And rushed to him :- I found him not,
I only stirred in this black spot,
I only lived, I only drew
The accursed breath of dungeon-dew;
The last the sole the dearest link

It was the carol of a bird;
It ceased, and then it came again,

The sweetest song ear ever heard,
And mine was thankful till my eyes
Ran over with the glad surprise,
And they that moment could not see
I was the mate of misery;
But then by dull degrees came back
My senses to their wonted track,
I saw the dungeon walls and floor
Close slowly round me as before,
I saw the glimmer of the sun
Creeping as it before had done,
But through the crevice where it came
That bird was perched, as fond and tame,
And tamer than upon the tree;

A lovely bird, with azure wings,
And song that said a thousand things,
And seemed to say them all for me!

I never saw its like before,

I ne'er shall see its likeness more.

It seemed, like me, to want a mate,
But was not half so desolate,
And it was come to love me when
None lived to love me so again,
And cheering from my dungeon's brink,
Had brought me back to feel and think.

I know not if it late were free,

Or broke its cage to perch on mine,

But knowing well captivity,

Sweet bird! I could not wish for thine! Or if it were, in wingéd guise,

A visitant from Paradise:

For-Heaven forgive that thought! the while
Which made me both to weep and smile
I sometimes deemed that it might be
My brother's soul come down to me;

A kind of change came in my fate,
My keepers grew compassionate;

I know not what had made them so,
They were inured to sights of woe,
But so it was - my broken chain
With links unfastened did remain,
And it was liberty to stride
Along my cell from side to side,

And up and down, and then athwart,
And tread it over every part;
And round the pillars one by one,
Returning where my walk begun,
Avoiding only, as I trod,

My brothers' graves without a sod;
For if I thought with heedless tread
My step profaned their lowly bed,
My breath came gaspingly and thick,
And my crushed heart fell blind and sick.

I saw the white-walled distant town,
And whiter sails go skimming down ;
And then there was a little isle,
Which in my very face did smile,
The only one in view;

A small green isle, it seemed no more,
Scarce broader than my dungeon floor,
But in it there were three tall trees,
And o'er it blew the mountain breeze,
And by it there were waters flow. g,
And on it there were young flowers growing
Of gentle breath and hue.

The fish swam by the castle wall,
And they seemed joyous each and all;
The eagle rode the rising blast,
Methought he never flew so fast
As then to me he seemed to fly,
And then new tears came in my eye,
And I felt troubled, — and would fain
I had not left my recent chain;
And when I did descend again,
The darkness of my dim abode
Fell on me as a heavy load;
It was as in a new-dug grave
Closing o'er one we sought to save,
And yet my glance, too much oppressed,
Had almost need of such a rest.

XIV.

It might be months, or years, or days,

I kept no count, I took no note,

I had no hope my eyes to raise,

And clear them of their dreary mote; At last men came to set me free,

I asked not why and recked not where, It was at length the same to me, Fettered or fetterless to be,

I learned to love despair. And thus when they appeared at last, And all my bonds aside were cast, These heavy walls to me had grown A hermitage, and all my own! And half I felt as they were come To tear me from a second home; With spiders I had friendship made, And watched them in their sullen trade, Had seen the mice by moonlight play, And why should I feel less than they? We were all inmates of one place, And I, the monarch of each race, Had power to kill, yet, strange to tell! In quiet we had learned to dwell, My very chains and I grew friends, So much a long communion tends To make us what we are:- even I Regained my freedom with a sigh.

-

-

BYRON

LAMBRO'S RETURN.

FROM "DON JUAN."

LAMBRO, our sea-solicitor, who had
Much less experience of dry land than ocean,
On seeing his own chimney-smoke, felt glad;
But, not knowing metaphysics, had no notion
Of the true reason of his not being sad,

Or that of any other strong emotion;

He loved his child, and would have wept the loss

of her,

But knew the cause no more than a philosopher. He saw his white walls shining in the sun,

His garden trees all shadowy and green ; He heard his rivulet's light bubbling run,

The distant dog-bark; and perceived, between The umbrage of the wood, so cool and dun,

The moving figures, and the sparkling sheen Of arms (in the East all arm),— and various dyes Of colored garbs, as bright as butterflies.

And as the spot where they appear he nears,
Surprised at these unwonted signs of idling,
He hears - alas! no music of the spheres,
But an unhallowed earthly sound of fiddling!
A melody which made him doubt his cars,

The cause being past his guessing or unriddling;
A pipe, too, and a drum, and, shortly after,
A most unoriental roar of laughter.

Old Lambro passed unseen a private gate,
And stood within his hall at eventide;
Meantime the lady and her lover sate

At wassail in their beauty and their pride :
An ivory inlaid table spread with state

Before them, and fair slaves on every side; Gems, gold, and silver formed the service mostly, Mother-of-pearl and coral the less costly.

Haidee and Juan carpeted their feet

On crimson satin, bordered with pale blue; Their sofa occupied three parts complete

Of the apartment, — and appeared quite new ; The velvet cushions (for a throne more meet) Were scarlet, from whose glowing centre grew A sun embossed in gold, whose rays of tissue, Meridian-like, were seen all light to issue.

Of all the dresses I select Haidee's;

--

One large gold bracelet clasped each lovely arm,
Lockless, - so pliable from the pure gold
That the hand stretched and shut it without harm,
The limb which it adorned its only mould:
So beautiful, its very shape would charm,
And clinging as if loath to lose its hold,
The purest ore enclosed the whitest skin
That e'er by precious metal was held in.
Around, as princess of her father's land,

Announced her rank; twelve rings were on her
A like gold bar, above her instep rolled,
hand;

Her hair was starred with gems; her veil's fine fold

Below her breast was fastened with a band

Of lavish pearls, whose worth could scarce be told; Her orange-silk full Turkish trousers furled Above the prettiest ankle in the world.

Round her she made an atmosphere of life,

The very air seemed lighter from her eyes, They were so soft and beautiful, and rife

With all we can imagine of the skies.
And pure as Psyche ere she grew a wife, -

Too pure even for the purest human ties;
Her overpowering presence made you feel
It would not be idolatry to kneel.

They gazed upon the sunset; 't is an hour

Dear unto all, but dearest to their eyes, For it had made them what they were the power Of love had first o'erwhelmed them from such

skies,

When happiness had been their only dower,
And twilight saw them linked in passion's ties;
Charmed with each other, all things charmed that
brought

The past still welcome as the present thought.

She dreamed of being alone on the sea-shore

Chained to a rock she knew not how, but stir She could not from the spot, and the loud roar Grew, and each wave rose roughly, threatening her;

And o'er her upper lip they seemed to pour

Until she sobbed for breath, and soon they were Foaming o'er her lone head, so fierce and high, Each broke to drown her, yet she could not die.

And wet and cold and lifeless at her feet,

Pale as the foam that frothed on his dead brow, Which she essayed in vain to clear, (how sweet Were once her cares, how idle seemed they now!) Lay Juan, nor could aught renew the beat

Of his quenched heart; and the sea-dirges low
Rang in her sad cars like a mermaid's song,
And that brief dream appeared a life too long.

And gazing on the dead, she thought his face
Faded, or altered into something new,
Like to her father's features, till cach trace

More like and like to Lambro's aspect grew, With all his keen worn look and Grecian grace; And, starting, she awoke, and what to view? Opowers of heaven! what dark eye meets she there? "Tis't is her father's-fixed upon the pair!

Then shrieking, she arose, and shrieking fell, With joy and sorrow, hope and fear, to sec Him whom she deemed a habitant where dwell The ocean-buried, risen from death to be Perchance the death of one she loved too well: Dear as her father had been to Haidee,

It was a moment of that awful kind,

Of pleasure and of pain, -even while I kiss

Thy garment's hem with transport, can it be That doubt should mingle with my filial joy? Deal with me as thou wilt, but spare this boy."

High and inscrutable the old man stood,

Calm in his voice, and calm within his eye, – Not always signs with him of calmest mood: He looked upon her, but gave no reply ; Then turned to Juan, in whose cheek the blood Oft came and went, as there resolved to die, In arms, at least, he stood in act to spring On the first foe whom Lambro's call might bring. "Youngman, your sword"; so Lambro once more said:

Juan replied, "Not while this arm is free." The old man's cheek grew pale, but not with dread, And drawing from his belt a pistol, he Replied, "Your blood be then on your own head." Then looked close at the flint, as if to see T was fresh, for he had lately used the lock, — And next proceeded quietly to cock.

--

The father paused a moment, then withdrew
His weapon, and replaced it; but stood still,
And looking on her, as to look her through:
"Not I," he said, "have sought this stranger's

ill;.

Not I have made this desolation: few

Would bear such outrage, and forbear to kill; Done thine, the present vouches for the past. But I must do my duty, - how thou hast "Let him disarm; or, by my father's head,

His own shall roll before you like a ball!" He raised his whistle, as the word he said, And blew; another answered to the call, And, rushing in disorderly, though led,

And armed from boot to turban, one and all,

Then, with a sudden movement, he withdrew His daughter; while compressed within his clasp,

"Twixt her and Juan interposed the crew;

In vain she struggled in her father's grasp,
His arms were like a serpent's coil: then flew
Upon their prey, as darts an angry asp,
The file of pirates; save the foremost, who
Had fallen, with his right shoulder half cut
through.

The second had his check laid open; but
The third, a wary, cool, old sworder, took
The blows upon his cutlass, and then put

His own well in so well, ere you could look,
His man was floored, and helpless, at his foot,
With the blood running, like a little brook,
From two smart sabre-gashes, deep and red,
One on the arm, the other on the head.
And then they bound him where he fell, and bore
Juan from the apartment: with a sign,
Old Lambro bade them take him to the shore,
Where lay some ships which were tosail at nine.
They laid him in a boat, and plied the oar

Until they reached some galliots, placed in line; On board of one of these, and under hatches, They stowed him, with strict orders to the watches.

The last sight Haidee saw was Juan's gore,

And he himself o'ermastered and cut down : His blood was running on the very floor,

Where late he trod, her beautiful, her own; Thus much she viewed an instant and no more,

Her struggles ceased with one convulsive groan; On her sire's arm, which until now scarce held Her, writhing, fell she, like a cedar felled.

A vein had burst, and her sweet lips' pure dyes Were dabbled with the deep blood which ran o'er;

And her head drooped, as when the lily lies O'ercharged with rain: her summoned handmaids bore

Their lady to her couch, with gushing eyes;

Of herbs and cordials they produced their store, But she defied all means they could employ, Like one life could not hold, nor death destroy.

Days lay she in that state, unchanged, though chill,

With nothing livid, still her lips were red; She had no pulse, but death seemed absent still ; No hideous sign proclaimed her surely dead; Corruption came not, in each mind to kill

All hope; to look upon her sweet face bred

She woke at length, but not as sleepers wake, Rather the dead, for life seemed something new, A strange sensation which she must partake Perforce, since whatsoever met her view Struck not her memory, though a heavy ache

Lay at her heart, whose earliest beat, still true, Brought back the sense of pain without the cause, For, for a while, the furies made a pause.

She looked on many a face with vacant eye,
On many a token without knowing what;
She saw them watch her without asking why;
And recked not who around her pillow sat;
Not speechless, though she spoke not; not a sigh
Relieved her thoughts; dull silence and quick
chat

Were tried in vain by those who served; she gave
No sign, save breath, of having left the grave.

Her handmaids tended, but she heeded not;

Her father watched, she turned her eyes away ; She recognized no being, and no spot,

However dear, or cherished in their day; They changed from room to room, but all forgot, Gentle, but without memory, she lay;

At length those eyes, which they would fain be weaning

Back to old thoughts, waxed full of fearful meaning.

And then a slave bethought her of a harp;

The harper came, and tuned his instrument; At the first notes, irregular and sharp,

On him her flashing eyes a moment bent, Then to the wall she turned, as if to warp

Her thoughts from sorrow, through her heart re-sent;

And he began a long low island-song
Of ancient days, ere tyranny grew strong.

Anon her thin wan fingers beat the wall,

In time to his old tune; he changed the theme, And sung of love; the fierce name struck through all

Her recollection; on her flashed the dream Of what she was, and is, if ye could call

To be so being; in a gushing stream The tears rushed forth from her o'erclouded brain, Like mountain mists at length dissolved in rain.

Short solace, vain relief!-thought came too quick,

And whirled her brain to madness; she arose, As one who ne'er had dwelt among the sick, And flew at all she met, as on her foes;