No More Learning

'And thus my prison was the populous earth--
Where I saw--even as misery dreams of morn
Before the east has given its glory birth--
Religion's pomp made desolate by the scorn
Of Wisdom's faintest smile, and thrones uptorn, _3140
And dwellings of mild people interspersed
With undivided fields of ripening corn,
And love made free,--a hope which we have nursed
Even with our blood and tears,--until its glory burst.

36.
'All is not lost! There is some recompense _3145
For hope whose fountain can be thus profound,
Even throned Evil's splendid impotence,
Girt by its hell of power, the secret sound
Of hymns to truth and freedom--the dread bound
Of life and death passed fearlessly and well, _3150
Dungeons wherein the high resolve is found,
Racks which degraded woman's greatness tell,
And what may else be good and irresistible.

37.
'Such are the thoughts which, like the fires that flare
In storm-encompassed isles, we cherish yet _3155
In this dark ruin--such were mine even there;
As in its sleep some odorous violet,
While yet its leaves with nightly dews are wet,
Breathes in prophetic dreams of day's uprise,
Or as, ere Scythian frost in fear has met _3160
Spring's messengers descending from the skies,
The buds foreknow their life--this hope must ever rise.

38.
'So years had passed, when sudden earthquake rent
The depth of ocean, and the cavern cracked
With sound, as if the world's wide continent _3165
Had fallen in universal ruin wracked:
And through the cleft streamed in one cataract
The stifling waters--when I woke, the flood
Whose banded waves that crystal cave had sacked
Was ebbing round me, and my bright abode _3170
Before me yawned--a chasm desert, and bare, and broad.

39.
'Above me was the sky, beneath the sea:
I stood upon a point of shattered stone,
And heard loose rocks rushing tumultuously
With splash and shock into the deep--anon _3175
All ceased, and there was silence wide and lone.
I felt that I was free! The Ocean-spray
Quivered beneath my feet, the broad Heaven shone
Around, and in my hair the winds did play
Lingering as they pursued their unimpeded way. _3180

40.
'My spirit moved upon the sea like wind
Which round some thymy cape will lag and hover,
Though it can wake the still cloud, and unbind
The strength of tempest: day was almost over,
When through the fading light I could discover _3185
A ship approaching--its white sails were fed
With the north wind--its moving shade did cover
The twilight deep; the mariners in dread
Cast anchor when they saw new rocks around them spread.

41.
'And when they saw one sitting on a crag, _3190
They sent a boat to me;--the Sailors rowed
In awe through many a new and fearful jag
Of overhanging rock, through which there flowed
The foam of streams that cannot make abode.
They came and questioned me, but when they heard _3195
My voice, they became silent, and they stood
And moved as men in whom new love had stirred
Deep thoughts: so to the ship we passed without a word.


NOTES:
_2877 dreams edition 1818.
_2994 opprest edition 1818.
_3115 lone solitude edition 1818.


CANTO 8.

1.
'I sate beside the Steersman then, and gazing
Upon the west, cried, "Spread the sails! Behold! _3200
The sinking moon is like a watch-tower blazing
Over the mountains yet;--the City of Gold
Yon Cape alone does from the sight withhold;
The stream is fleet--the north breathes steadily
Beneath the stars; they tremble with the cold! _3205
Ye cannot rest upon the dreary sea! --
Haste, haste to the warm home of happier destiny! "

2.
'The Mariners obeyed--the Captain stood
Aloof, and, whispering to the Pilot, said,
"Alas, alas! I fear we are pursued _3210
By wicked ghosts; a Phantom of the Dead,
The night before we sailed, came to my bed
In dream, like that! " The Pilot then replied,
"It cannot be--she is a human Maid--
Her low voice makes you weep--she is some bride, _3215
Or daughter of high birth--she can be nought beside.