The tale is hushed up now; But there was one who rightly guessed "It drove her mad-yet not his deathNo-not his death alone; For she had clung to hope, when all "I am thy uncle, child,-why stare So frightfully aghast?— The arras waves, but know'st thou not I, too, have had my fears like these, "I'll show thee what thy mother saw,- To open this old chest. "It has a secret spring; the touch Slowly the lid is raised, and now- A sudden crash-the lid fell down, His grasp of lead is on my throat- That night they laid him on his bed, In raving madness tost; He gnashed his teeth, and with wild oaths And ere the light of morning broke, CATO ON IMMORTALITY BY JOSEPH ADDISON It must be so-Plato, thou reasonest well! Or whence this secret dread, and inward horror, 'Tis Heaven itself that points out a hereafter, Eternity!-thou pleasing, dreadful thought! Through what new scenes and changes must we pass! The wide, the unbounded prospect lies before me: Through all her works,-He must delight in virtue; This world was made for Cæsar. this must end them. [Laying his hand on his sword. Thus am I doubly armed. My death and life, My bane and antidote, are both before me. This in a moment brings me to my end; But this informs me I shall never die. The soul, secure in her existence, smiles At the drawn dagger, and defies its point. The stars shall fade away, the sun himself Grow dim with age, and Nature sink in years; But thou shalt flourish in immortal youth, Unhurt amid the war of elements, The wreck of matter, and the crush of worlds. THE CLOUD BY PERCY BYSSHE SHELLEY I bring fresh showers for the thirsting flowers, I bear light shade for the leaves when laid From my wings are shaken the dews that waken When rocked to rest on their mother's breast, As she dances about the sun. I wield the flail of the lashing hail, And whiten the green plains under, And then again I dissolve it in rain, And laugh as I pass in thunder. I sift the snow on the mountains below, While I sleep in the arms of the blast. In a cavern under is fettered the thunder, Over earth and ocean, with gentle motion, Lured by the love of the genii that move Over the rills, and the crags, and the hills, Wherever he dream, under mountain or stream, The Spirit he loves remains; And I all the while bask in heaven's blue smile, Whilst he is dissolving in rains. The sanguine sunrise, with his meteor eyes, Which an earthquake rocks and swings, An eagle alit one moment may sit In the light of its golden wings. And when sunset may breathe, from the lit sea beneath, Its ardors of rest and of love, And the crimson pall of eve may fall From the depths of heaven above, With wings folded I rest, on mine airy nest, As still as a brooding dove. That orbed maiden with white fire laden, Glides glimmering o'er my fleece-like floor, And wherever the beat of her unseen feet, May have broken the woof of my tent's thin roof, And I laugh to see them whirl and flee, Like a swarm of golden bees, When I widen the rent in my wind-built tent, Like strips of the sky fallen thro' me on high, I bind the sun's throne with a burning zone, The volcanoes are dim, and the stars reel and swim, From cape to cape with a bridge-like shape, Over torrent sea, Sunbeam-proof, I hang like a roof; The mountains its columns be. |