Beside the Woman Peter stands; His heart is opening more and more; A holy sense pervades his mind; To learn thy course; farewell! be prompt and steady." And pallid brow, a melancholy lustre. This scarcely spoken, she again Was seated in her gleaming Shallop, That, o'er the yet-distempered Deep, Pursued its way with bird-like sweep, Or like a steed, without a rein, Urged o'er the wilderness in sportive gallop. Soon did the gentle Nina reach That Isle without a house or haven; Landing, she found not what she sought, Nor saw of wreck or ruin aught But a carved Lotus cast upon the shore By the fierce waves, a flower in marble graven. Sad relique, but how fair the while! On Nina as she passed, with hopeful greeting. No quest was hers of vague desire, Of tortured hope and purpose shaken; Following the margin of a bay, She spied the lonely Cast-away, Unmarred, unstripped of her attire, Once more did gentle Nina lift Into the ethereal element The Birds with progress smooth and swift But with closed eyes, — of breath and bloom forsaken. As thought, when through bright regions memory Then Nina, stooping down, embraced, With tenderness and mild emotion, The Damsel, in that trance embound; And, while she raised her from the ground, And in the pearly shallop placed, Sleep fell upon the air, and stilled the ocean. The turmoil hushed, celestial springs With gleams that owed not to the Sun their birth, ranges. Sage Merlin, at the Slumberer's side, Instructs the Swans their way to measure; And soon Caerleon's towers appeared, And notes of minstrelsy were heard From rich pavilions spreading wide, For some high day of long-expected pleasure. Awe-stricken stood both Knights and Dames Ere on firm ground the Car alighted; Eftsoons astonishment was past, For in that fuce they saw the last, Last lingering look of clay, that tames All pride, by which all happiness is blighted. |