LITMIR.BIZ

Скачать книгу

        It is he—it is he! In his left hand, behold!

        As a sign!—as a joy!—shines the goblet of gold!

        And he breathed deep, and he breathed long,

          And he greeted the heavenly delight of the day.

        They gaze on each other—they shout, as they throng—

          "He lives—lo the ocean has render'd its prey!

        And safe from the whirlpool and free from the grave,

        Comes back to the daylight the soul of the brave!"

        And he comes, with the crowd in their clamor and glee,

          And the goblet his daring has won from the water,

        He lifts to the king as he sinks on his knee;—

          And the king from her maidens has beckon'd his daughter—

        She pours to the boy the bright wine which they bring,

        And thus spake the Diver—"Long life to the king!

        "Happy they whom the rose-hues of daylight rejoice,

          The air and the sky that to mortals are given!

        May the horror below never more find a voice—

          Nor Man stretch too far the wide mercy of Heaven!

        Never more—never more may he lift from the sight

        The veil which is woven with Terror and Night!

        "Quick-brightening like lightning—it tore me along,

          Down, down, till the gush of a torrent, at play

        In the rocks of its wilderness, caught me—and strong

          As the wings of an eagle, it whirl'd me away.

        Vain, vain was my struggle—the circle had won me,

        Round and round in its dance, the wild element spun me.

        "And I call'd on my God, and my God heard my prayer

          In the strength of my need, in the gasp of my breath—

        And show'd me a crag that rose up from the lair,

          And I clung to it, nimbly—and baffled the death!

        And, safe in the perils around me, behold

        On the spikes of the coral the goblet of gold!

        "Below, at the foot of the precipice drear,

          Spread the gloomy, and purple, and pathless Obscure!

        A silence of Horror that slept on the ear,

          That the eye more appall'd might the Horror endure!

        Salamander—snake—dragon—vast reptiles that dwell

        In the deep-coil'd about the grim jaws of their hell.

        "Dark-crawl'd—glided dark the unspeakable swarms,

          Clump'd together in masses, misshapen and vast—

        Here clung and here bristled the fashionless forms—

          Here the dark-moving bulk of the Hammer-fish pass'd—

        And with teeth grinning white, and a menacing motion,

        Went the terrible Shark—the Hyena of Ocean.

        "There I hung, and the awe gather'd icily o'er me,

          So far from the earth, where man's help there was none!

        The One Human Thing, with the Goblins before me—

          Alone—in a loneness so ghastly—ALONE!

        Fathom-deep from man's eye in the speechless profound,

        With the death of the Main and the Monsters around.

        "Methought, as I gazed through the darkness, that now

          IT[8] saw—the dread hundred-limbed creature-its prey!

        And darted—O God! from the far flaming-bough

          Of the coral, I swept on the horrible way;

        And it seized me, the wave with its wrath and its roar,

        It seized me to save—King, the danger is o'er!"

        On the youth gazed the monarch, and marvel'd; quoth he,

          "Bold Diver, the goblet I promised is thine,

        And this ring will I give, a fresh guerdon to thee,

          Never jewels more precious shone up from the mine,

        If thou'lt bring me fresh tidings, and venture again

        To tell what lies hid in the innermost main?"

        Then outspake the daughter in tender emotion

          "Ah! father, my father, what more can there rest?

        Enough of this sport with the pitiless ocean—

          He has served thee as none would, thyself has confest.

        If nothing can slake thy wild thirst of desire,

        Let thy knights put to shame the exploit of the squire!"

        The king seized the goblet—he swung it on high,

          And whirling, it fell in the roar of the tide:

        "But bring back that goblet again to my eye,

          And I'll hold thee the dearest that rides by my side;

        And thine arms shall embrace, as thy bride, I decree,

        The maiden whose pity now pleadeth for thee."

        In his heart, as he listen'd, there leapt the wild joy—

          And the hope and the love through his eyes spoke in fire,

        On that bloom, on that blush, gazed delighted the boy;

          The maiden-she faints at the feet of her sire!

        Here the guerdon divine, there the danger beneath;

        He resolves! To the strife with the life and the death!

        They hear the loud surges sweep back in their swell,

          Their coming the thunder-sound heralds along!

        Fond eyes yet are tracking the spot where he fell:

          They come, the wild waters, in tumult and throng,

        Roaring up to the cliff—roaring back, as before,

        But no wave ever brings the lost youth to the shore.

      THE CRANES OF IBYCUS (1797)