No More Learning

It is the hush of night, and all between
Thy margin and the mountains, dusk, yet clear,
Mellowed and mingling, yet distinctly seen,
Save darkened Jura,[329] whose capt heights appear
Precipitously steep; and drawing near,
There breathes a living fragrance from the shore,
Of flowers yet fresh with childhood; on the ear
Drops the light drip of the suspended oar,
Or chirps the grasshopper one good-night carol more.

LXXXVII.

He is an evening reveller, who makes[jz]
His life an infancy, and sings his fill;[ka][330]
At intervals, some bird from out the brakes
Starts into voice a moment, then is still.
There seems a floating whisper on the hill,
But that is fancy--for the Starlight dews
All silently their tears of Love instil,
Weeping themselves away, till they infuse
Deep into Nature's breast the spirit of her hues. [kb]

LXXXVIII.

Ye Stars! which are the poetry of Heaven!
If in your bright leaves we would read the fate
Of men and empires,--'tis to be forgiven,
That in our aspirations to be great,
Our destinies o'erleap their mortal state,
And claim a kindred with you; for ye are
A Beauty and a Mystery, and create
In us such love and reverence from afar,
That Fortune,--Fame,--Power,--Life, have named themselves a Star. [331]

LXXXIX.

All Heaven and Earth are still--though not in sleep,
But breathless, as we grow when feeling most;[332]
And silent, as we stand in thoughts too deep:--
All Heaven and Earth are still: From the high host
Of stars, to the lulled lake and mountain-coast,
All is concentered in a life intense,
Where not a beam, nor air, nor leaf is lost,
But hath a part of Being, and a sense
Of that which is of all Creator and Defence. [333]

XC.

Then stirs the feeling infinite, so felt[kc]
In solitude, where we are _least_ alone;
A truth, which through our being then doth melt,
And purifies from self: it is a tone,
The soul and source of Music, which makes known[kd]
Eternal harmony, and sheds a charm
Like to the fabled Cytherea's zone,[334]
Binding all things with beauty;--'twould disarm
The spectre Death, had he substantial power to harm.

XCI.

Not vainly did the early Persian make[335]
His altar the high places, and the peak
Of earth-o'ergazing mountains,[19. B.
] --and thus take
A fit and unwalled temple, there to seek
The Spirit, in whose honour shrines are weak
Upreared of human hands. Come, and compare
Columns and idol-dwellings--Goth or Greek--
With Nature's realms of worship, earth and air--
Nor fix on fond abodes to circumscribe thy prayer!

XCII.

The sky is changed! --and such a change! Oh Night,[20. B. ]
And Storm, and Darkness, ye are wondrous strong,
Yet lovely in your strength, as is the light
Of a dark eye in Woman! [336] Far along,
From peak to peak, the rattling crags among
Leaps the live thunder! Not from one lone cloud,
But every mountain now hath found a tongue,
And Jura answers, through her misty shroud,
Back to the joyous Alps, who call to her aloud!

XCIII.

And this is in the Night:--Most glorious Night! [ke]
Thou wert not sent for slumber! let me be
A sharer in thy fierce and far delight,--
A portion of the tempest and of thee! [kf]
How the lit lake shines, a phosphoric sea,[kg]
And the big rain comes dancing to the earth!
And now again 'tis black,--and now, the glee
Of the loud hills shakes with its mountain-mirth,
As if they did rejoice o'er a young Earthquake's birth.