Watching an eddy in the leaden deep, From which they deem the body of one drowned Will be cast forth, from face to face doth creep An eager dread that holds all tongues fast bound Until the horror, with a ghastly leap, Starts up, its dead blue arms stretched aimlessly, Heaved with the swinging of the careless sea, XXXV. So in the faces of all these there grew, All eyes toward the altar; damp and raw Whether perchance his silent neighbor saw The dreadful thing which all were sure would rise To scare the strained lids wider from their eyes. XXXVI. The incense trembled as it upward sent Its slow, uncertain thread of wandering blue, As 'twere the only living element In all the church, so deep the stillness grew; It seemed one might have heard it, as it went, Give out an audible rustle, curling through The midnight silence of that awe-struck air, More hushed than death, though so much life was there. XXXVII. Nothing they saw, but a low voice was heard Wakened by some volcano's glare, should cheer As if it spoke to every one apart, Like the clear voice of conscience in each heart. XXXVIII. "O Rest, to weary hearts thou art most dear! At that wished gate which gentle Death doth ope, XXXIX. "Think not in death my love could ever cease; Most comfortless and wretched, seeing this XL. "This little spirit with imploring eyes Wanders alone the dreary wild of space; The shadow of his pain forever lies Upon my soul in this new dwelling-place; His loneliness makes me in Paradise More lonely, and, unless I see his face, Even here for grief could I lie down and die, Save for my curse of immortality. XLI. "World after world he sees around him swim Crowded with happy souls, that take no heed Of the sad eyes that from the night's faint rim Gaze sick with longing on them as they speed With golden gates, that only shut out him; And shapes sometimes from Hell's abysses freed Flap darkly by him, with enormous sweep Of wings that roughen wide the pitchy deep. XLII. "I am a mother, spirits do not shake This much of earth from them,-and I must pine Till I can feel his little hands, and take His weary head upon this heart of mine; And be shut out of Heaven to dwell with him XLIII. "I strove to hush my soul, and would not speak And by its weakness overcomes; I strove XLIV. "I sit and weep while blessed spirits sing; I can but long and pine the while they praise, And, leaning o'er the wall of Heaven, I fling My voice to where I deem my infant strays, Like a robbed bird that cries in vain to bring Her nestlings back beneath her wings' embrace; But still he answers not, and I but know That Heaven and earth are both alike in woe." XLV. Then the pale priests, with ceremony due, And parted the bright hair, and on the breast XLVI. Some said, that, when the priest had sprinkled o'er Released, and then two voices singing clear, Fading far upward, and their ghastly fear Fell from them with that sound, as bodies fall From souls upspringing to celestial hall. PROMETHEUS. ONE after one the stars have risen and set, I could but guess; and then toward me came It was, and calm; its cold eyes did not move, |