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Poems

Год написания книги
2017
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With the rich beauty of the summer's night.
The harp is hushed, and, see, the torch is dim, —
Night and ourselves together. To the brim
The cup of our felicity is filled.
Each sound is mute, each harsh sensation stilled.
Dost thou not think that, e'en while nature sleeps,
Some power its amorous vigils o'er us keeps?
No cloud in heaven; while all around repose,
Come taste with me the fragrance of the rose,
Which loads the night-air with its musky breath,
While everything is still as nature's death.
E'en as you spoke – and gentle words were those
Spoken by you, – the silver moon uprose;
How that mysterious union of her ray,
With your impassioned accents, made its way
Straight to my heart! I could have wished to die
In that pale moonlight, and while thou wert by.

HERNANI. Thy words are music, and thy strain of love
Is borrowed from the choir of heaven above.

DONNA SOL. Night is too silent, darkness too profound
Oh, for a star to shine, a voice to sound —
To raise some sudden note of music now
Suited to night.

HERN.           Capricious girl! your vow
Was poured for silence, and to be released
From the thronged tumult of the marriage feast.

DONNA SOL. Yes; but one bird to carol in the field, —
A nightingale, in mossy shade concealed, —
A distant flute, – for music's stream can roll
To soothe the heart, and harmonize the soul, —
O! 'twould be bliss to listen.
{Distant sound of a horn, the signal that HERNANI
must go to DON RUY, who, having saved his  
life, had him bound in a vow to yield it up.}

    LORD F. LEVESON GOWER (1ST EARL OF ELLESMERE).

CROMWELL AND THE CROWN

("Ah! je le tiens enfin.")

{CROMWELL, Act II., October, 1827.}

THURLOW communicates the intention of Parliament to offer CROMWELL the crown.

CROMWELL. And is it mine? And have my feet at length
Attained the summit of the rock i' the sand?
THURLOW. And yet, my lord, you have long reigned.

CROM.             Nay, nay!
Power I have 'joyed, in sooth, but not the name.
Thou smilest, Thurlow. Ah, thou little know'st
What hole it is Ambition digs i' th' heart
What end, most seeming empty, is the mark
For which we fret and toil and dare! How hard
With an unrounded fortune to sit down!
Then, what a lustre from most ancient times
Heaven has flung o'er the sacred head of kings!
King – Majesty – what names of power! No king,
And yet the world's high arbiter! The thing
Without the word! no handle to the blade!
Away – the empire and the name are one!
Alack! thou little dream'st how grievous 'tis,
Emerging from the crowd, and at the top
Arrived, to feel that there is something still
Above our heads; something, nothing! no matter —
That word is everything.

    LEITCH RITCHIE.

MILTON'S APPEAL TO CROMWELL

("Non! je n'y puis tenir.")

{CROMWELL, Act III. sc. iv.}

Stay! I no longer can contain myself,
But cry you: Look on John, who bares his mind
To Oliver – to Cromwell, Milton speaks!
Despite a kindling eye and marvel deep
A voice is lifted up without your leave;
For I was never placed at council board
To speak my promptings. When awed strangers come
Who've seen Fox-Mazarin wince at the stings
In my epistles – and bring admiring votes
Of learned colleges, they strain to see
My figure in the glare – the usher utters,
"Behold and hearken! that's my Lord Protector's
Cousin – that, his son-in-law – that next" – who cares!
Some perfumed puppet! "Milton?" "He in black —
Yon silent scribe who trims their eloquence!"
Still 'chronicling small-beer,' – such is my duty!
Yea, one whose thunder roared through martyr bones
Till Pope and Louis Grand quaked on their thrones,
And echoed "Vengeance for the Vaudois," where
The Sultan slumbers sick with scent of roses.
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