In pain and fire have unbelievers gone; And ye must sadly turn away, and moan In secret, to his home each one returning; And to long ages shall this hour be known; And slowly shall its memory, ever burning, Fill this dark night of things with an eternal morning.

XXX.

"For me that world is grown too void and cold, Since hope pursues immortal destiny

With steps thus slow-therefore shall ye behold How those who love, yet fear not, dare to die;

Tell to your children this!' then suddenly He sheathed a dagger in his heart, and fell; My brain grew dark in death, and yet to me

There came a murmur from the crowd to tell Of deep and mighty change which suddenly befell.

XXXI.

"Then suddenly I stood a winged Thought
Before the immortal Senate, and the seat
Of that star-shining spirit, whence is wrought
The strength of its dominion, good and great,
The better Genius of this world's estate.
His realm around one mighty Fane is spread,
Elysian islands bright and fortunate,

Calm dwellings of the free and happy dead, Where I am sent to lead!" These winged words she said,

XXXII.

And with the silence of her eloquent smile,
Bade us embark in her divine canoe;

Then at the helm we took our seat, the while
Above her head those plumes of dazzling

hue

Into the winds' invisible stream she threw,
Sitting beside the prow: like gossamer
On the swift breath of morn, the vessel flew
O'er the bright whirlpools of that fountain

fair,

Whose shores receded fast, while we seemed lingering there;

XXXIII.

Till down that mighty stream dark, calm, and

fleet,

Between a chasm of cedar mountains riven, Chased by the thronging winds, whose viewless

feet

As swift as twinkling beams, had, under Heaven, From woods and waves wild sounds and odours driven,

The boat flew visibly-three nights and days, Borne like a cloud through morn, and noon,

and even,

We sailed along the winding watery ways

Of the vast stream, a long and labyrinthine

maze.

XXXIV.

A scene of joy and wonder to behold
That river's shapes and shadows changing

ever:

Where the broad sunrise filled with deepening

gold

Its whirlpools where all hues did spread and

quiver,

And where melodious falls did burst and shiver Among rocks clad with flowers, the foam and

spray

Sparkled like stars upon the sunny river;

Or when the moonlight poured a holier day, One vast and glittering lake around green islands

lay.

XXXV.

Morn, noon, and even, that boat of pearl

outran

The streams which bore it, like the arrowy

cloud

Of tempest, or the speedier thought of man, Which flieth forth and cannot make abode; Sometimes through forests, deep like night, we glode,

Between the walls of mighty mountains crowned With Cyclopean piles, whose turrets proud, The homes of the departed, dimly frowned O'er the bright waves which girt their dark foundations round.

XXXVI.

Sometimes between the wide and flowering

meadows

Mile after mile we sailed, and 'twas delight
To see far off the sunbeams chase the shadows
Over the grass; sometimes beneath the night
Of wide and vaulted caves, whose roofs were
bright

With starry gems, we fled, whilst from their deep And dark green chasms, shades beautiful and white

Amid sweet sounds across our path would sweep, Like swift and lovely dreams that walk the waves of sleep.

XXXVII.

And ever as we sailed, our minds were full
Of love and wisdom, which would overflow
In converse wild, and sweet, and wonderful;
And in quick smiles whose light would come
and go

Like music o'er wide waves, and in the flow
Of sudden tears, and in the mute caress:

For a deep shade was cleft, and we did know, That virtue, though obscured on Earth, not less Survives all mortal change in lasting loveliness.

XXXVIII.

Three days and nights we sailed, as thought and feeling

Number delightful hours for through the sky

The sphered lamps of day and night, revealing
New changes and new glories, rolled on high,
Sun, Moon, and moonlike lamps, the progeny
Of a diviner Heaven, serene and fair;
On the fourth day, wild as a wind-wrought sea
The stream became, and fast and faster bare
The spirit-winged boat, steadily speeding there.

XXXIX.

Steadily and swift, where the waves rolled like mountains

Within the vast ravine, whose rifts did pour Tumultuous floods from their ten thousand

fountains,

The thunder of whose earth-uplifting roar

Made the air sweep in whirlwinds from the

shore,

Calm as a shade, the boat of that fair child Securely fled, that rapid stress before, Amid the topmost spray, and sunbows wild, Wreathed in the silver mist in joy and pride we smiled.

XL.

:

The torrent of that wide and raging river
Is passed, and our aërial speed suspended.
We look behind; a golden mist did quiver
When* its wild surges with the lake were blended.
Our bark hung there, as by one line suspended
Between two heavens, that windless, waveless
lake,

*Read where?