No More Learning

And when, at length, the mind shall be all free
From what it hates in this degraded form,[jl]
Reft of its carnal life, save what shall be
Existent happier in the fly and worm,--
When Elements to Elements conform,
And dust is as it should be, shall I not
Feel all I see less dazzling but more warm?
The bodiless thought? the Spirit of each spot? [jm]
Of which, even now, I share at times the immortal lot? [322]

LXXV.

Are not the mountains, waves, and skies, a part[jn]
Of me and of my Soul, as I of them?
Is not the love of these deep in my heart
With a pure passion? should I not contemn
All objects, if compared with these? and stem
A tide of suffering, rather than forego
Such feelings for the hard and worldly phlegm
Of those whose eyes are only turned below,
Gazing upon the ground, with thoughts which dare not glow? [jo][323]

LXXVI.

But this is not my theme; and I return[jp]
To that which is immediate, and require
Those who find contemplation in the urn,
To look on One, whose dust was once all fire,--
A native of the land where I respire
The clear air for a while--a passing guest,
Where he became a being,--whose desire
Was to be glorious; 'twas a foolish quest,
The which to gain and keep, he sacrificed all rest.

LXXVII.

Here the self-torturing sophist, wild Rousseau,[jq]
The apostle of Affliction, he who threw
Enchantment over Passion, and from Woe
Wrung overwhelming eloquence, first drew
The breath which made him wretched; yet he knew
How to make Madness beautiful, and cast
O'er erring deeds and thoughts, a heavenly hue[jr]
Of words, like sunbeams, dazzling as they past
The eyes, which o'er them shed tears feelingly and fast.

LXXVIII.

His love was Passion's essence--as a tree
On fire by lightning; with ethereal flame
Kindled he was, and blasted; for to be
Thus, and enamoured, were in him the same.
[js]
But his was not the love of living dame,
Nor of the dead who rise upon our dreams,
But of ideal Beauty, which became
In him existence, and o'erflowing teems
Along his burning page, distempered though it seems.

LXXIX.

_This_ breathed itself to life in Julie, _this_
Invested her with all that's wild and sweet;
This hallowed, too, the memorable kiss[18. B. ]
Which every morn his fevered lip would greet,
From hers, who but with friendship his would meet;
But to that gentle touch, through brain and breast
Flashed the thrilled Spirit's love-devouring heat;[jt]
In that absorbing sigh perchance more blest
Than vulgar minds may be with all they seek possest.

LXXX.

His life was one long war with self-sought foes,
Or friends by him self-banished;[324] for his mind
Had grown Suspicion's sanctuary, and chose,
For its own cruel sacrifice, the kind,[ju]
'Gainst whom he raged with fury strange and blind.
But he was phrensied, wherefore, who may know?
Since cause might be which Skill could never find;[jv]
But he was phrensied by disease or woe,
To that worst pitch of all, which wears a reasoning show.

LXXXI.

For then he was inspired,[325] and from him came,
As from the Pythian's mystic cave of yore,
Those oracles which set the world in flame,[326]
Nor ceased to burn till kingdoms were no more:
Did he not this for France? which lay before
Bowed to the inborn tyranny of years? [327]
Broken and trembling to the yoke she bore,
Till by the voice of him and his compeers,
Roused up to too much wrath which follows o'ergrown fears?

LXXXII.

They made themselves a fearful monument!
The wreck of old opinions--things which grew,[jw]
Breathed from the birth of Time: the veil they rent,
And what behind it lay, all earth shall view.