Lucifer. And so it shall be ever; but we will Lucifer. Return! be sure: how else should death be peopled ? Its present realm is thin to what it will be, Through thee and thine. Cain. The clouds still open wide And wider, and make widening circles round us. Lucifer. Advance! Cain. Lucifer. And thou! Fear not-without me thou [They disappear through the clouds. Couldst not have gone beyond thy world. On! on! In secret we niet- Thy spirit deceive. After long years, How should I greet thee?— With silence and tears. MAID OF ATHENS Ζώη μοῦ, σᾶς ἀγαπῶ. By those tresses unconfined, Kiss thy soft cheeks' blooming tinge; By that lip I long to taste; By all the token-flowers that tell What words can never speak so well; Ζώη μου, σᾶς ἀγαπῶ. Maid of Athens! I am gone : Think of me, sweet! when alone. Athens holds my heart and soul: 330 ΙΟ 20 AND THOU ART DEAD "Heu, quanto minus est cum reliquis versari quam tui meminisse!" AND thou art dead, as young and fair As aught of mortal birth; And form so soft, and charms so rare, There is an eye which could not brook I will not ask where thou liest low, There flowers or weeds at will may grow, So I behold them not: It is enough for me to prove That what I loved, and long must love, Like common earth can rot; To me there needs no stone to tell, Yet did I love thee to the last As fervently as thou, Who didst not change through all the past, And canst not alter now. The love where Death has set his seal, Nor age can chill, nor rival steal, Nor falsehood disavow: And, what were worse, thou canst not see The better days of life were ours; The worst can be but mine: The sun that cheers, the storm that lowers, ΙΟ 20 30 The silence of that dreamless sleep Nor need I to repine That all those charms have pass'd away; I might have watch'd through long decay. The flower in ripen'd bloom unmatch'd And yet it were a greater grief Since earthly eye but ill can bear To trace the change to foul from fair. I know not if I could have borne The night that follow'd such a morn Had worn a deeper shade: Thy day without a cloud hath pass'd, Extinguish'd, not decay'd; As stars that shoot along the sky As once I wept, if I could weep, My tears might well be shed, One vigil o'er thy bed; Uphold thy drooping head; And show that love, however vain, 40 50 60 |