by Thomas Moore
In such entrancing melodies
As ear had never drunk till then!
Not harmony’s serenest touch
So stilly could the notes prolong;
They were not heavenly song so much
As they were dreams of heavenly song!
If sad the heart, whose murmuring air
Along the chords in languor stole,
The numbers it awakened there
Were eloquence from pity’s soul.
Or if the sigh, serene and light,
Was but the breath of fancied woes,
The string, that felt its airy flight,
Soon whispered it to kind repose.
And when young lovers talked alone,
If, mid their bliss, that Lyre was near,
It made their accents all its own,
And sent forth notes that heaven might hear.
There was a nymph, who long had loved,
But dared not tell the world how well:
The shades, where she at evening roved,
Alone could know, alone could tell.
’Twas there, at twilight time, she stole,
When the first star announced the night, —
With him who claimed her inmost soul,
To wander by that soothing light.
It chanced that, in the fairy bower
Where blest they wooed each other’s smile,
This Lyre, of strange and magic power,
Hung whispering o’er their head the while.
And as, with eyes commingling fire,
They listened to each other’s vow,
The youth full oft would make the Lyre
A pillow for the maiden’s brow!
And, while the melting words she breathed
Were by its echoes wafted round,
Her locks had with the chords so wreathed,
One knew not which gave forth the sound.
Alas, their hearts but little thought,
While thus they talked the hours away,
That every sound the Lyre was taught
Would linger long, and long betray.
So mingled with its tuneful soul
Were all the tender murmurs grown,
That other sighs unanswered stole,
Nor words it breathed but theirs alone.
Unhappy nymph! thy name was sung
To every breeze that wandered by;
The secrets of thy gentle tongue
Were breathed in song to earth and sky.
The fatal Lyre, by Envy’s hand
Hung high amid the whispering groves,
To every gale by which ’twas fanned,
Proclaimed the mystery of your loves.
Nor long thus rudely was thy name
To earth’s derisive echoes given;
Some pitying spirit downward came.
And took the Lyre and thee to heaven.
There, freed from earth’s unholy wrongs,
Both happy in Love’s home shall be;
Thou, uttering naught but seraph songs,
And that sweet Lyre still echoing thee!
PEACE AND GLORY.
WRITTEN ON THE APPROACH OF WAR.
Where is now the smile, that lightened
Every hero’s couch of rest?
Where is now the hope, that brightened
Honor’s eye and Pity’s breast?
Have we lost the wreath we braided
For our weary warrior men?
Is the faithless olive faded?
Must the bay be plucked again?
Passing hour of sunny weather,
Lovely, in your light awhile,
Peace and Glory, wed together,
Wandered through our blessed isle.
And the eyes of Peace would glisten,
Dewy as a morning sun,
When the timid maid would listen
To the deeds her chief had done.
Is their hour of dalliance over?
Must the maiden’s trembling feet
Waft her from her warlike lover
To the desert’s still retreat?
Fare you well! with sighs we banish
Nymph so fair and guests so bright;
Yet the smile, with which you vanish,
Leaves behind a soothing light; —
Soothing light, that long shall sparkle
O’er your warrior’s sanguined way,
Through the field where horrors darkle,
Shedding hope’s consoling ray.
Long the smile his heart will cherish,
To its absent idol true;
While around him myriads perish,
Glory still will sigh for you!
SONG. TAKE BACK THE SIGH, THY LIPS OF ART
Take back the sigh, thy lips of art
In passion’s moment breathed to me;
Yet, no — it must not, will not part,
’Tis now the life-breath of my heart,
And has become too pure for thee.
Take back the kiss, that faithless sigh
With all the warmth of truth imprest;
Yet, no — the fatal kiss may lie,
Upon thy lip its sweets would die,
Or bloom to make a rival blest.
Take back the vows that, night and day,
My heart received, I thought, from thine;
Yet, no — allow them still to stay,
They might some other heart betray,
As sweetly as they’ve ruined mine.
LOVE AND REASON.
Quand l’homme commence à raissonner, il cesse de sentir. — J. J. ROUSSEAU.
’Twas in the summer time so sweet,
When hearts and flowers are both in season,
That — who, of all the world, should meet,
One early dawn, but Love and Reason!
Love told his dream of yesternight,
While Reason talked about the weather;
The morn, in sooth, was fair and bright,
And on they took their way together.
The boy in many a gambol flew,
While Reason, like a Juno, stalked,
And from her portly figure threw
A lengthened shadow, as she walked.
No wonder Love, as on they past,
Should find that sunny morning chill,
For still the shadow Reason cast
Fell o’er the boy, and cooled him still.
In vain he tried his wings to warm.
Or find a pathway not so dim
For still the maid’s gigantic form
Would stalk between the sun and him.
“This must not be,” said little Love —
“The sun was made for more than you.”
So, turning through a myrtle grove,
He bid the portly nymph adieu.
Now gayly roves the laughing boy
O’er many a mead, by many a stream;
In every breeze inhaling joy,
And drinking bliss in every beam.
From all the gardens, all the bowers,
He culled the many sweets they shaded,
And ate the fruits and smelled the flowers,
Till taste was gone and odor faded.
But now the sun, in pomp of noon,
Looked blazing o’er the sultry plains;
Alas! the boy grew languid soon,
And fever thrilled through all his veins.
The dew forsook his baby brow,
No more with healthy bloom he smiled —
Oh! where was tranquil Reason now,
To cast her shadow o’er the child?
Beneath a green and aged palm,
His foot at length for shelter turning,
He saw the nymph reclining calm,
With brow as cool as his was burning.
“Oh! take me to that bosom cold,”
In murmurs at her feet he said;
And Reason oped her garment’s fold,
And flung it round his fevered head.
He felt her bosom�
��s icy touch,
And soon it lulled his pulse to rest;
For, ah! the chill was quite too much,
And Love expired on Reason’s breast!
* * * * *
Nay, do not weep, my Fanny dear;
While in these arms you lie.
This world hath not a wish, a fear,
That ought to cost that eye a tear.
That heart, one single sigh.
The world! — ah, Fanny, Love must shun
The paths where many rove;
One bosom to recline upon,
One heart to be his only — one,
Are quite enough for Love.
What can we wish, that is not here
Between your arms and mine?
Is there, on earth, a space so dear
As that within the happy sphere
Two loving arms entwine?
For me, there’s not a lock of jet
Adown your temples curled,
Within whose glossy, tangling net,
My soul doth not, at once, forget
All, all this worthless world.
’Tis in those eyes, so full of love,
My only worlds I see;
Let but their orbs in sunshine move,
And earth below and skies above
May frown or smile for me.
ASPASIA.
’Twas in the fair Aspasia’s bower,
That Love and Learning, many an hour,
In dalliance met; and Learning smiled
With pleasure on the playful child,
Who often stole, to find a nest
Within the folds of Learning’s vest.
There, as the listening statesman hung
In transport on Aspasia’s tongue,
The destinies of Athens took
Their color from Aspasia’s look.
Oh happy time, when laws of state
When all that ruled the country’s fate,
Its glory, quiet, or alarms,
Was planned between two snow-white arms!
Blest times! they could not always last —
And yet, even now, they are not past,
Though we have lost the giant mould.
In which their men were cast of old,
Woman, dear woman, still the same,
While beauty breathes through soul or frame,
While man possesses heart or eyes,
Woman’s bright empire never dies!
No, Fanny, love, they ne’er shall say,
That beauty’s charm hath past away;
Give but the universe a soul
Attuned to woman’s soft control,
And Fanny hath the charm, the skill,
To wield a universe at will.
THE GRECIAN GIRL’S DREAM OF THE BLESSED ISLANDS.1
TO HER LOVER.
Was it the moon, or was it morning’s ray,
That call’d thee, dearest, from these arms away?
Scarce hadst thou left me, when a dream of night
Came o’er my spirit so distinct and bright,
That, while I yet can vividly recall
Its witching wonders, thou shall hear them all.
Methought I saw, upon the lunar beam,
Two winged boys, such as thy muse might dream,
Descending from above, at that still hour,
And gliding, with smooth step, into my bower.
Fair as the beauteous spirits that, all day.
In Amatha’s warm founts imprisoned stay,
But rise at midnight, from the enchanted rill,
To cool their plumes upon some moonlight hill.
At once I knew their mission:— ’twas to bear
My spirit upward, through the paths of air,
To that elysian realm, from whence stray beams
So oft, in sleep, had visited my dreams.
Swift at their touch dissolved the ties, that clung
All earthly round me, and aloft I sprung;
While, heavenward guides, the little genii flew
Thro’ paths of light, refreshed by heaven’s own dew,
And fanned by airs still fragrant with the breath
Of cloudless climes and worlds that know not death.
Thou knowest, that, far beyond our nether sky,
And shown but dimly to man’s erring eye,
A mighty ocean of blue ether rolls,2
Gemmed with bright islands, where the chosen souls,
Who’ve past in lore and love their earthly hours,
Repose for ever in unfading bowers.
That very moon, whose solitary light
So often guides thee to my bower at night,
Is no chill planet, but an isle of love,
Floating in splendor through those seas above,
And peopled with bright forms, aerial grown,
Nor knowing aught of earth but love alone.
Thither, I thought, we winged our airy way: —
Mild o’er its valleys streamed a silvery day,
While, all around, on lily beds of rest,
Reclined the spirits of the immortal Blest.
Oh! there I met those few congenial maids,
Whom love hath warmed, in philosophic shades;
There still Leontium,3 on her sage’s breast,
Found lore and love, was tutored and carest;
And there the clasp of Pythia’s4gentle arms
Repaid the zeal which deified her charms.
The Attic Master,5 in Aspasia’s eyes,
Forgot the yoke of less endearing ties;
While fair Theano,6 innocently fair,
Wreathed playfully her Samian’s flowing hair,
Whose soul now fixt, its transmigrations past,
Found in those arms a resting-place, at last;
And smiling owned, whate’er his dreamy thought
In mystic numbers long had vainly sought,
The One that’s formed of Two whom love hath bound,
Is the best number gods or men e’er found.
But think, my Theon, with what joy I thrilled,
When near a fount, which through the valley rilled,
My fancy’s eye beheld a form recline,
Of lunar race, but so resembling thine
That, oh! ’twas but fidelity in me,
To fly, to clasp, and worship it for thee.
No aid of words the unbodied soul requires,
To waft a wish or embassy desires;
But by a power, to spirits only given,
A deep, mute impulse, only felt in heaven,
Swifter than meteor shaft through summer skies,
From soul to soul the glanced idea flies.
Oh, my beloved, how divinely sweet
Is the pure joy, when kindred spirits meet!
Like him, the river-god,7whose waters flow,
With love their only light, through caves below,
Wafting in triumph all the flowery braids,
And festal rings, with which Olympic maids
Have decked his current, as an offering meet
To lay at Arethusa’s shining feet.
Think, when he meets at last his fountain-bride,
What perfect love must thrill the blended tide!
Each lost in each, till, mingling into one,
Their lot the same for shadow or for sun,
A type of true love, to the deep they run.
’Twas thus —
But, Theon, ’tis an endless theme,
And thou growest weary of my half-told dream.
Oh would, my love, we were together now.
And I would woo sweet patience to thy brow,
And make thee smile at all the magic tales
Of starlight bowers and planetary vales,
Which my fond soul, inspired by thee and love,
In slumber’s loom hath fancifully wove.
But no; no more — soon as tomorrow’s ray
O’er soft Ilissus shall have died away,
I’l
l come, and, while love’s planet in the west
Shines o’er our meeting, tell thee all the rest.
1 It was imagined by some of the ancients that there is an ethereal ocean above us, and that the sun and moon are two floating, luminous islands, in which the spirits of the blest reside.
2 This belief of an ocean in the heavens, or “waters above the firmament,” was one of the many physical errors In which the early fathers bewildered themselves.
3 The pupil and mistress of Epicurus, who called her his “dear little Leontium” as appears by a fragment of one of his letters in Laertius. This Leontium was a woman of talent; “she had the impudence (says Cicero) to write against Theophrastus;” and Cicero, at the same time, gives her a name which is neither polite nor translatable.
4 Pythia was a woman whom Aristotle loved, and to whom after her death he paid divine honors, solemnizing her memory by the same sacrifices which the Athenians offered to the Goddess Ceres.
5 Socrates, who used to console himself in the society of Aspasia for those “less endearing ties” which he found at home with Xantippe.
6 There are some sensible letters extant under the name of this fair Pythagorean. They are addressed to her female friends upon the education of children, the treatment of servants, etc.
7 The river Alpheus, which flowed by Pisa or Olympia, and into which it was customary to throw offerings of different kinds, during the celebration of the Olympic games. In the pretty romance of Clitophon and Leucippe, the river is supposed to carry these offerings as bridal gifts to the fountain Arethusa.
TO CLOE. IMITATED FROM MARTIAL.
I could resign that eye of blue.
How e’er its splendor used to thrill me;
And even that cheek of roseate hue, —
To lose it, Cloe, scarce would kill me.
That snowy neck I ne’er should miss,
However much I’ve raved about it;
And sweetly as that lip can kiss,
I think I could exist without it.
In short, so well I’ve learned to fast,
That, sooth my love, I know not whether
I might not bring myself at last,
To — do without you altogether.
THE WREATH AND THE CHAIN.
I bring thee, love, a golden chain,
I bring thee too a flowery wreath;
The gold shall never wear a stain,
The flowerets long shall sweetly breathe.
Come, tell me which the tie shall be,
To bind thy gentle heart to me.
The Chain is formed of golden threads,
Bright as Minerva’s yellow hair,
When the last beam of evening sheds
Its calm and sober lustre there.
