Lamia | Page 6

woman's lore so well;?And every word she spake entic'd him on?To unperplex'd delight and pleasure known.?Let the mad poets say whate'er they please?Of the sweets of Fairies, Peris, Goddesses,?There is not such a treat among them all,?Haunters of cavern, lake, and waterfall,?As a real woman, lineal indeed?From Pyrrha's pebbles or old Adam's seed.?Thus gentle Lamia judg'd, and judg'd aright,?That Lycius could not love in half a fright,?So threw the goddess off, and won his heart?More pleasantly by playing woman's part,?With no more awe than what her beauty gave,?That, while it smote, still guaranteed to save.?Lycius to all made eloquent reply,?Marrying to every word a twinborn sigh;?And last, pointing to Corinth, ask'd her sweet,?If 'twas too far that night for her soft feet.?The way was short, for Lamia's eagerness?Made, by a spell, the triple league decrease?To a few paces; not at all surmised?By blinded Lycius, so in her comprized.?They pass'd the city gates, he knew not how?So noiseless, and he never thought to know.
As men talk in a dream, so Corinth all,?Throughout her palaces imperial,?And all her populous streets and temples lewd,?Mutter'd, like tempest in the distance brew'd,?To the wide-spreaded night above her towers.?Men, women, rich and poor, in the cool hours,?Shuffled their sandals o'er the pavement white,?Companion'd or alone; while many a light?Flared, here and there, from wealthy festivals,?And threw their moving shadows on the walls,?Or found them cluster'd in the corniced shade?Of some arch'd temple door, or dusky colonnade.
Muffling his face, of greeting friends in fear,?Her fingers he press'd hard, as one came near?With curl'd gray beard, sharp eyes, and smooth bald crown,?Slow-stepp'd, and robed in philosophic gown:?Lycius shrank closer, as they met and past,?Into his mantle, adding wings to haste,?While hurried Lamia trembled: "Ah," said he,?"Why do you shudder, love, so ruefully??Why does your tender palm dissolve in dew?" -?"I'm wearied," said fair Lamia: "tell me who?Is that old man? I cannot bring to mind?His features - Lycius! wherefore did you blind?Yourself from his quick eyes?" Lycius replied,?'Tis Apollonius sage, my trusty guide?And good instructor; but to-night he seems?The ghost of folly haunting my sweet dreams.
While yet he spake they had arrived before?A pillar'd porch, with lofty portal door,?Where hung a silver lamp, whose phosphor glow?Reflected in the slabbed steps below,?Mild as a star in water; for so new,?And so unsullied was the marble hue,?So through the crystal polish, liquid fine,?Ran the dark veins, that none but feet divine?Could e'er have touch'd there. Sounds Aeolian?Breath'd from the hinges, as the ample span?Of the wide doors disclos'd a place unknown?Some time to any, but those two alone,?And a few Persian mutes, who that same year?Were seen about the markets: none knew where?They could inhabit; the most curious?Were foil'd, who watch'd to trace them to their house:?And but the flitter-winged verse must tell,?For truth's sake, what woe afterwards befel,?'Twould humour many a heart to leave them thus,?Shut from the busy world of more incredulous.
Part 2?love in a hut, with water and a crust,?Is - Love, forgive us! - cinders, ashes, dust;?Love in a palace is perhaps at last?More grievous torment than a hermit's fast -?That is a doubtful tale from faery land,?Hard for the non-elect to understand.?Had Lycius liv'd to hand his story down,?He might have given the moral a fresh frown,?Or clench'd it quite: but too short was their bliss?To breed distrust and hate, that make the soft voice hiss.?Besides, there, nightly, with terrific glare,?Love, jealous grown of so complete a pair,?Hover'd and buzz'd his wings, with fearful roar,?Above the lintel of their chamber door,?And down the passage cast a glow upon the floor.
For all this came a ruin: side by side?They were enthroned, in the even tide,?Upon a couch, near to a curtaining?Whose airy texture, from a golden string,?Floated into the room, and let appear?Unveil'd the summer heaven, blue and clear,?Betwixt two marble shafts: - there they reposed,?Where use had made it sweet, with eyelids closed,?Saving a tythe which love still open kept,?That they might see each other while they almost slept;?When from the slope side of a suburb hill,?Deafening the swallow's twitter, came a thrill?Of trumpets - Lycius started - the sounds fled,?But left a thought, a buzzing in his head.?For the first time, since first he harbour'd in?That purple-lined palace of sweet sin,?His spirit pass'd beyond its golden bourn?Into the noisy world almost forsworn.?The lady, ever watchful, penetrant,?Saw this with pain, so arguing a want?Of something more, more than her empery?Of joys; and she began to moan and sigh?Because he mused beyond her, knowing well?That but a moment's thought is passion's passing bell.?"Why do you sigh, fair creature?" whisper'd he:?"Why do you think?" return'd she tenderly:?"You have deserted me - where am I now??Not in your heart while care weighs on your brow:?No, no, you have dismiss'd me; and I go?From your breast houseless: ay, it