Julian And Maddalo. A Conversation Poem Rhyme Scheme and Analysis

Rhyme Scheme: AABBCCDDEEEFGHHIIJJK LMMNNOOOOPPQQRAIMSSA AIITTAAOOOOOOAAIIPPU UAVOOMMOOWMMMOOMMXXY ZQQOA2B2B2C2C2D2D2B2 B2AMAA2B2B2AAE2E2E2O OA2MAAMMMAAAF2F2WIB2 B2AAAMG2G2AAMMAAB2B2 IIAMF2F2OOH2H2D2D2II OOAAAOOOOIII2I2H2H2I 2IMMAAAAH2H2A2MAA2OO OOAMWWIOOA2OOOMAIIAA A2I2AAOOI2I2WIA2H2II I2I2B2B2I2I2WIMMH2H2 OOMMIIQQAAOOH2H2MMG2 G2AI2B2B2OOMMF2F2I2I 2I2I2OOMA2QQIIB2B2B2 B2OOIAOOI2I2H2H2J2J2 OOOOOOB2B2K2K2I2I2L2 L2OOOO OOB2B2MMB2B2I2I2III2 I2OOB2B2OO AAI2I2B2B2MMI2I2G2G2 H2H2H2H2OI2OI2I2I2I2 AA OOOOI2I2AAOOOOB2B2QQ I2I2WI2B2B2B2B2OOI2I 2I2OOI2I2OOM2M2KB2N2 OOOAAO2O2OOI2I2MMB2B 2 OOOOOOB2AI2I2 H2H2B2B2OOI2I2I2I2I2 I2 OOI2I2OOMMOOOOOOOP2P 2MG2 MAAMMB2B2I2I2Q2Q2Q2G 2G2I2I2OOQQI2I2O AAI2I2MMR2R2OOOOI2 B2B2OOOOB2B2MM I2I2OOOOB2B2OOI2 KN2S2TOOB2B2I2I2OOH2 H2MMMM AAOOI2I2T2T2OOB2B2F2 F2AAKKOOG2G2MMI2I2OO B2B2WI2B2B2H2 B2B2I2I2OOOMMAAOOOOO OJ2J2OOOOOOOOOOAAOOO OI2I2I2QQOB2U2O2G2G2 I2I2OOAAB2B2B2I2OOAA V2V2 MOOI2I2I2 B2I2 A AAI2I2OOOOB2B2B2 I2I2

I rode one evening with Count Maddalo	A
Upon the bank of land which breaks the flow	A
Of Adria towards Venice a bare strand	B
Of hillocks heaped from ever shifting sand	B
Matted with thistles and amphibious weeds	C
Such as from earth's embrace the salt ooze breeds	C
Is this an uninhabited sea side	D
Which the lone fisher when his nets are dried	D
Abandons and no other object breaks	E
The waste but one dwarf tree and some few stakes	E
Broken and unrepaired and the tide makes	E
A narrow space of level sand thereon	F
Where 'twas our wont to ride while day went down	G
This ride was my delight I love all waste	H
And solitary places where we taste	H
The pleasure of believing what we see	I
Is boundless as we wish our souls to be	I
And such was this wide ocean and this shore	J
More barren than its billows and yet more	J
Than all with a remembered friend I love	K
To ride as then I rode for the winds drove	L
The living spray along the sunny air	M
Into our faces the blue heavens were bare	M
Stripped to their depths by the awakening north	N
And from the waves sound like delight broke forth	N
Harmonising with solitude and sent	O
Into our hearts aereal merriment	O
So as we rode we talked and the swift thought	O
Winging itself with laughter lingered not	O
But flew from brain to brain such glee was ours	P
Charged with light memories of remembered hours	P
None slow enough for sadness till we came	Q
Homeward which always makes the spirit tame	Q
This day had been cheerful but cold and now	R
The sun was sinking and the wind also	A
Our talk grew somewhat serious as may be	I
Talk interrupted with such raillery	M
As mocks itself because it cannot scorn	S
The thoughts it would extinguish 'twas forlorn	S
Yet pleasing such as once so poets tell	A
The devils held within the dales of Hell	A
Concerning God freewill and destiny	I
Of all that earth has been or yet may be	I
All that vain men imagine or believe	T
Or hope can paint or suffering may achieve	T
We descanted and I for ever still	A
Is it not wise to make the best of ill	A
Argued against despondency but pride	O
Made my companion take the darker side	O
The sense that he was greater than his kind	O
Had struck methinks his eagle spirit blind	O
By gazing on its own exceeding light	O
Meanwhile the sun paused ere it should alight	O
Over the horizon of the mountains Oh	A
How beautiful is sunset when the glow	A
Of Heaven descends upon a land like thee	I
Thou Paradise of exiles Italy	I
Thy mountains seas and vineyards and the towers	P
Of cities they encircle it was ours	P
To stand on thee beholding it and then	U
Just where we had dismounted the Count's men	U
Were waiting for us with the gondola	A
As those who pause on some delightful way	V
Though bent on pleasant pilgrimage we stood	O
Looking upon the evening and the flood	O
Which lay between the city and the shore	M
Paved with the image of the sky the hoar	M
And aery Alps towards the North appeared	O
Through mist an heaven sustaining bulwark reared	O
Between the East and West and half the sky	W
Was roofed with clouds of rich emblazonry	M
Dark purple at the zenith which still grew	M
Down the steep West into a wondrous hue	M
Brighter than burning gold even to the rent	O
Where the swift sun yet paused in his descent	O
Among the many folded hills they were	M
Those famous Euganean hills which bear	M
As seen from Lido thro' the harbour piles	X
The likeness of a clump of peaked isles	X
And then as if the Earth and Sea had been	Y
Dissolved into one lake of fire were seen	Z
Those mountains towering as from waves of flame	Q
Around the vaporous sun from which there came	Q
The inmost purple spirit of light and made	O
Their very peaks transparent 'Ere it fade '	A2
Said my companion 'I will show you soon	B2
A better station' so o'er the lagune	B2
We glided and from that funereal bark	C2
I leaned and saw the city and could mark	C2
How from their many isles in evening's gleam	D2
Its temples and its palaces did seem	D2
Like fabrics of enchantment piled to Heaven	B2
I was about to speak when 'We are even	B2
Now at the point I meant ' said Maddalo	A
And bade the gondolieri cease to row	M
'Look Julian on the west and listen well	A
If you hear not a deep and heavy bell '	A2
I looked and saw between us and the sun	B2
A building on an island such a one	B2
As age to age might add for uses vile	A
A windowless deformed and dreary pile	A
And on the top an open tower where hung	E2
A bell which in the radiance swayed and swung	E2
We could just hear its hoarse and iron tongue	E2
The broad sun sunk behind it and it tolled	O
In strong and black relief 'What we behold	O
Shall be the madhouse and its belfry tower '	A2
Said Maddalo 'and ever at this hour	M
Those who may cross the water hear that bell	A
Which calls the maniacs each one from his cell	A
To vespers ' 'As much skill as need to pray	M
In thanks or hope for their dark lot have they	M
To their stern maker ' I replied 'O ho	M
You talk as in years past ' said Maddalo	A
''Tis strange men change not You were ever still	A
Among Christ's flock a perilous infidel	A
A wolf for the meek lambs if you can't swim	F2
Beware of Providence ' I looked on him	F2
But the gay smile had faded in his eye	W
'And such ' he cried 'is our mortality	I
And this must be the emblem and the sign	B2
Of what should be eternal and divine	B2
And like that black and dreary bell the soul	A
Hung in a heaven illumined tower must toll	A
Our thoughts and our desires to meet below	A
Round the rent heart and pray as madmen do	M
For what they know not till the night of death	G2
As sunset that strange vision severeth	G2
Our memory from itself and us from all	A
We sought and yet were baffled ' I recall	A
The sense of what he said although I mar	M
The force of his expressions The broad star	M
Of day meanwhile had sunk behind the hill	A
And the black bell became invisible	A
And the red tower looked gray and all between	B2
The churches ships and palaces were seen	B2
Huddled in gloom into the purple sea	I
The orange hues of heaven sunk silently	I
We hardly spoke and soon the gondola	A
Conveyed me to my lodging by the way	M
The following morn was rainy cold and dim	F2
Ere Maddalo arose I called on him	F2
And whilst I waited with his child I played	O
A lovelier toy sweet Nature never made	O
A serious subtle wild yet gentle being	H2
Graceful without design and unforeseeing	H2
With eyes Oh speak not of her eyes which seem	D2
Twin mirrors of Italian Heaven yet gleam	D2
With such deep meaning as we never see	I
But in the human countenance with me	I
She was a special favourite I had nursed	O
Her fine and feeble limbs when she came first	O
To this bleak world and she yet seemed to know	A
On second sight her ancient playfellow	A
Less changed than she was by six months or so	A
For after her first shyness was worn out	O
We sate there rolling billiard balls about	O
When the Count entered Salutations past	O
'The word you spoke last night might well have cast	O
A darkness on my spirit if man be	I
The passive thing you say I should not see	I
Much harm in the religions and old saws	I2
Tho' I may never own such leaden laws	I2
Which break a teachless nature to the yoke	H2
Mine is another faith ' thus much I spoke	H2
And noting he replied not added 'See	I2
This lovely child blithe innocent and free	I
She spends a happy time with little care	M
While we to such sick thoughts subjected are	M
As came on you last night It is our will	A
That thus enchains us to permitted ill	A
We might be otherwise we might be all	A
We dream of happy high majestical	A
Where is the love beauty and truth we seek	H2
But in our mind and if we were not weak	H2
Should we be less in deed than in desire '	A2
'Ay if we were not weak and we aspire	M
How vainly to be strong ' said Maddalo	A
'You talk Utopia ' 'It remains to know '	A2
I then rejoined 'and those who try may find	O
How strong the chains are which our spirit bind	O
Brittle perchance as straw We are assured	O
Much may be conquered much may be endured	O
Of what degrades and crushes us We know	A
That we have power over ourselves to do	M
And suffer what we know not till we try	W
But something nobler than to live and die	W
So taught those kings of old philosophy	I
Who reigned before Religion made men blind	O
And those who suffer with their suffering kind	O
Yet feel their faith religion ' 'My dear friend '	A2
Said Maddalo 'my judgement will not bend	O
To your opinion though I think you might	O
Make such a system refutation tight	O
As far as words go I knew one like you	M
Who to this city came some months ago	A
With whom I argued in this sort and he	I
Is now gone mad and so he answered me	I
Poor fellow but if you would like to go	A
We'll visit him and his wild talk will show	A
How vain are such aspiring theories '	A2
'I hope to prove the induction otherwise	I2
And that a want of that true theory still	A
Which seeks a soul of goodness in things ill	A
Or in himself or others has thus bowed	O
His being there are some by nature proud	O
Who patient in all else demand but this	I2
To love and be beloved with gentleness	I2
And being scorned what wonder if they die	W
Some living death this is not destiny	I
But man's own wilful ill '	A2
As thus I spoke	H2
Servants announced the gondola and we	I
Through the fast falling rain and high wrought sea	I
Sailed to the island where the madhouse stands	I2
We disembarked The clap of tortured hands	I2
Fierce yells and howlings and lamentings keen	B2
And laughter where complaint had merrier been	B2
Moans shrieks and curses and blaspheming prayers	I2
Accosted us We climbed the oozy stairs	I2
Into an old courtyard I heard on high	W
Then fragments of most touching melody	I
But looking up saw not the singer there	M
Through the black bars in the tempestuous air	M
I saw like weeds on a wrecked palace growing	H2
Long tangled locks flung wildly forth and flowing	H2
Of those who on a sudden were beguiled	O
Into strange silence and looked forth and smiled	O
Hearing sweet sounds Then I 'Methinks there were	M
A cure of these with patience and kind care	M
If music can thus move but what is he	I
Whom we seek here ' 'Of his sad history	I
I know but this ' said Maddalo 'he came	Q
To Venice a dejected man and fame	Q
Said he was wealthy or he had been so	A
Some thought the loss of fortune wrought him woe	A
But he was ever talking in such sort	O
As you do far more sadly he seemed hurt	O
Even as a man with his peculiar wrong	H2
To hear but of the oppression of the strong	H2
Or those absurd deceits I think with you	M
In some respects you know which carry through	M
The excellent impostors of this earth	G2
When they outface detection he had worth	G2
Poor fellow but a humorist in his way'	A
'Alas what drove him mad ' 'I cannot say	I2
A lady came with him from France and when	B2
She left him and returned he wandered then	B2
About yon lonely isles of desert sand	O
Till he grew wild he had no cash or land	O
Remaining the police had brought him here	M
Some fancy took him and he would not bear	M
Removal so I fitted up for him	F2
Those rooms beside the sea to please his whim	F2
And sent him busts and books and urns for flowers	I2
Which had adorned his life in happier hours	I2
And instruments of music you may guess	I2
A stranger could do little more or less	I2
For one so gentle and unfortunate	O
And those are his sweet strains which charm the weight	O
From madmen's chains and make this Hell appear	M
A heaven of sacred silence hushed to hear '	A2
'Nay this was kind of you he had no claim	Q
As the world says' 'None but the very same	Q
Which I on all mankind were I as he	I
Fallen to such deep reverse his melody	I
Is interrupted now we hear the din	B2
Of madmen shriek on shriek again begin	B2
Let us now visit him after this strain	B2
He ever communes with himself again	B2
And sees nor hears not any ' Having said	O
These words we called the keeper and he led	O
To an apartment opening on the sea	I
There the poor wretch was sitting mournfully	A
Near a piano his pale fingers twined	O
One with the other and the ooze and wind	O
Rushed through an open casement and did sway	I2
His hair and starred it with the brackish spray	I2
His head was leaning on a music book	H2
And he was muttering and his lean limbs shook	H2
His lips were pressed against a folded leaf	J2
In hue too beautiful for health and grief	J2
Smiled in their motions as they lay apart	O
As one who wrought from his own fervid heart	O
The eloquence of passion soon he raised	O
His sad meek face and eyes lustrous and glazed	O
And spoke sometimes as one who wrote and thought	O
His words might move some heart that heeded not	O
If sent to distant lands and then as one	B2
Reproaching deeds never to be undone	B2
With wondering self compassion then his speech	K2
Was lost in grief and then his words came each	K2
Unmodulated cold expressionless	I2
But that from one jarred accent you might guess	I2
It was despair made them so uniform	L2
And all the while the loud and gusty storm	L2
Hissed through the window and we stood behind	O
Stealing his accents from the envious wind	O
Unseen I yet remember what he said	O
Distinctly such impression his words made	O
	-
'Month after month ' he cried 'to bear this load	O
And as a jade urged by the whip and goad	O
To drag life on which like a heavy chain	B2
Lengthens behind with many a link of pain	B2
And not to speak my grief O not to dare	M
To give a human voice to my despair	M
But live and move and wretched thing smile on	B2
As if I never went aside to groan	B2
And wear this mask of falsehood even to those	I2
Who are most dear not for my own repose	I2
Alas no scorn or pain or hate could be	I
So heavy as that falsehood is to me	I
But that I cannot bear more altered faces	I2
Than needs must be more changed and cold embraces	I2
More misery disappointment and mistrust	O
To own me for their father Would the dust	O
Were covered in upon my body now	B2
That the life ceased to toil within my brow	B2
And then these thoughts would at the least be fled	O
Let us not fear such pain can vex the dead	O
	-
'What Power delights to torture us I know	A
That to myself I do not wholly owe	A
What now I suffer though in part I may	I2
Alas none strewed sweet flowers upon the way	I2
Where wandering heedlessly I met pale Pain	B2
My shadow which will leave me not again	B2
If I have erred there was no joy in error	M
But pain and insult and unrest and terror	M
I have not as some do bought penitence	I2
With pleasure and a dark yet sweet offence	I2
For then if love and tenderness and truth	G2
Had overlived hope's momentary youth	G2
My creed should have redeemed me from repenting	H2
But loathed scorn and outrage unrelenting	H2
Met love excited by far other seeming	H2
Until the end was gained as one from dreaming	H2
Of sweetest peace I woke and found my state	O
Such as it is	I2
'O Thou my spirit's mate	O
Who for thou art compassionate and wise	I2
Wouldst pity me from thy most gentle eyes	I2
If this sad writing thou shouldst ever see	I2
My secret groans must be unheard by thee	I2
Thou wouldst weep tears bitter as blood to know	A
Thy lost friend's incommunicable woe	A
	-
'Ye few by whom my nature has been weighed	O
In friendship let me not that name degrade	O
By placing on your hearts the secret load	O
Which crushes mine to dust There is one road	O
To peace and that is truth which follow ye	I2
Love sometimes leads astray to misery	I2
Yet think not though subdued and I may well	A
Say that I am subdued that the full Hell	A
Within me would infect the untainted breast	O
Of sacred nature with its own unrest	O
As some perverted beings think to find	O
In scorn or hate a medicine for the mind	O
Which scorn or hate have wounded O how vain	B2
The dagger heals not but may rend again	B2
Believe that I am ever still the same	Q
In creed as in resolve and what may tame	Q
My heart must leave the understanding free	I2
Or all would sink in this keen agony	I2
Nor dream that I will join the vulgar cry	W
Or with my silence sanction tyranny	I2
Or seek a moment's shelter from my pain	B2
In any madness which the world calls gain	B2
Ambition or revenge or thoughts as stern	B2
As those which make me what I am or turn	B2
To avarice or misanthropy or lust	O
Heap on me soon O grave thy welcome dust	O
Till then the dungeon may demand its prey	I2
And Poverty and Shame may meet and say	I2
Halting beside me on the public way	I2
That love devoted youth is ours let's sit	O
Beside him he may live some six months yet	O
Or the red scaffold as our country bends	I2
May ask some willing victim or ye friends	I2
May fall under some sorrow which this heart	O
Or hand may share or vanquish or avert	O
I am prepared in truth with no proud joy	M2
To do or suffer aught as when a boy	M2
I did devote to justice and to love	K
My nature worthless now	B2
'I must remove	N2
A veil from my pent mind 'Tis torn aside	O
O pallid as Death's dedicated bride	O
Thou mockery which art sitting by my side	O
Am I not wan like thee at the grave's call	A
I haste invited to thy wedding ball	A
To greet the ghastly paramour for whom	O2
Thou hast deserted me and made the tomb	O2
Thy bridal bed But I beside your feet	O
Will lie and watch ye from my winding sheet	O
Thus wide awake tho' dead yet stay O stay	I2
Go not so soon I know not what I say	I2
Hear but my reasons I am mad I fear	M
My fancy is o'erwrought thou art not here	M
Pale art thou 'tis most true but thou art gone	B2
Thy work is finished I am left alone	B2
	-
'Nay was it I who wooed thee to this breast	O
Which like a serpent thou envenomest	O
As in repayment of the warmth it lent	O
Didst thou not seek me for thine own content	O
Did not thy love awaken mine I thought	O
That thou wert she who said You kiss me not	O
Ever I fear you do not love me now	B2
In truth I loved even to my overthrow	A
Her who would fain forget these words but they	I2
Cling to her mind and cannot pass away	I2
	-
'You say that I am proud that when I speak	H2
My lip is tortured with the wrongs which break	H2
The spirit it expresses Never one	B2
Humbled himself before as I have done	B2
Even the instinctive worm on which we tread	O
Turns though it wound not then with prostrate head	O
Sinks in the dusk and writhes like me and dies	I2
No wears a living death of agonies	I2
As the slow shadows of the pointed grass	I2
Mark the eternal periods his pangs pass	I2
Slow ever moving making moments be	I2
As mine seem each an immortality	I2
	-
'That you had never seen me never heard	O
My voice and more than all had ne'er endured	O
The deep pollution of my loathed embrace	I2
That your eyes ne'er had lied love in my face	I2
That like some maniac monk I had torn out	O
The nerves of manhood by their bleeding root	O
With mine own quivering fingers so that ne'er	M
Our hearts had for a moment mingled there	M
To disunite in horror these were not	O
With thee like some suppressed and hideous thought	O
Which flits athwart our musings but can find	O
No rest within a pure and gentle mind	O
Thou sealedst them with many a bare broad word	O
And searedst my memory o'er them for I heard	O
And can forget not they were ministered	O
One after one those curses Mix them up	P2
Like self destroying poisons in one cup	P2
And they will make one blessing which thou ne'er	M
Didst imprecate for on me death	G2
	-
'It were	M
A cruel punishment for one most cruel	A
If such can love to make that love the fuel	A
Of the mind's hell hate scorn remorse despair	M
But ME whose heart a stranger's tear might wear	M
As water drops the sandy fountain stone	B2
Who loved and pitied all things and could moan	B2
For woes which others hear not and could see	I2
The absent with the glance of phantasy	I2
And with the poor and trampled sit and weep	Q2
Following the captive to his dungeon deep	Q2
ME who am as a nerve o'er which do creep	Q2
The else unfelt oppressions of this earth	G2
And was to thee the flame upon thy hearth	G2
When all beside was cold that thou on me	I2
Shouldst rain these plagues of blistering agony	I2
Such curses are from lips once eloquent	O
With love's too partial praise let none relent	O
Who intend deeds too dreadful for a name	Q
Henceforth if an example for the same	Q
They seek for thou on me lookedst so and so	I2
And didst speak thus and thus I live to show	I2
How much men bear and die not	O
	-
'Thou wilt tell	A
With the grimace of hate how horrible	A
It was to meet my love when thine grew less	I2
Thou wilt admire how I could e'er address	I2
Such features to love's work this taunt though true	M
For indeed Nature nor in form nor hue	M
Bestowed on me her choicest workmanship	R2
Shall not be thy defence for since thy lip	R2
Met mine first years long past since thine eye kindled	O
With soft fire under mine I have not dwindled	O
Nor changed in mind or body or in aught	O
But as love changes what it loveth not	O
After long years and many trials	I2
	-
'How vain	B2
Are words I thought never to speak again	B2
Not even in secret not to mine own heart	O
But from my lips the unwilling accents start	O
And from my pen the words flow as I write	O
Dazzling my eyes with scalding tears my sight	O
Is dim to see that charactered in vain	B2
On this unfeeling leaf which burns the brain	B2
And eats into it blotting all things fair	M
And wise and good which time had written there	M
	-
'Those who inflict must suffer for they see	I2
The work of their own hearts and this must be	I2
Our chastisement or recompense O child	O
I would that thine were like to be more mild	O
For both our wretched sakes for thine the most	O
Who feelest already all that thou hast lost	O
Without the power to wish it thine again	B2
And as slow years pass a funereal train	B2
Each with the ghost of some lost hope or friend	O
Following it like its shadow wilt thou bend	O
No thought on my dead memory	I2
	-
'Alas love	K
Fear me not against thee I would not move	N2
A finger in despite Do I not live	S2
That thou mayst have less bitter cause to grieve	T
I give thee tears for scorn and love for hate	O
And that thy lot may be less desolate	O
Than his on whom thou tramplest I refrain	B2
From that sweet sleep which medicines all pain	B2
Then when thou speakest of me never say	I2
He could forgive not Here I cast away	I2
All human passions all revenge all pride	O
I think speak act no ill I do but hide	O
Under these words like embers every spark	H2
Of that which has consumed me quick and dark	H2
The grave is yawning as its roof shall cover	M
My limbs with dust and worms under and over	M
So let Oblivion hide this grief the air	M
Closes upon my accents as despair	M
Upon my heart let death upon despair '	-
	-
He ceased and overcome leant back awhile	A
Then rising with a melancholy smile	A
Went to a sofa and lay down and slept	O
A heavy sleep and in his dreams he wept	O
And muttered some familiar name and we	I2
Wept without shame in his society	I2
I think I never was impressed so much	T2
The man who were not must have lacked a touch	T2
Of human nature then we lingered not	O
Although our argument was quite forgot	O
But calling the attendants went to dine	B2
At Maddalo's yet neither cheer nor wine	B2
Could give us spirits for we talked of him	F2
And nothing else till daylight made stars dim	F2
And we agreed his was some dreadful ill	A
Wrought on him boldly yet unspeakable	A
By a dear friend some deadly change in love	K
Of one vowed deeply which he dreamed not of	K
For whose sake he it seemed had fixed a blot	O
Of falsehood on his mind which flourished not	O
But in the light of all beholding truth	G2
And having stamped this canker on his youth	G2
She had abandoned him and how much more	M
Might be his woe we guessed not he had store	M
Of friends and fortune once as we could guess	I2
From his nice habits and his gentleness	I2
These were now lost it were a grief indeed	O
If he had changed one unsustaining reed	O
For all that such a man might else adorn	B2
The colours of his mind seemed yet unworn	B2
For the wild language of his grief was high	W
Such as in measure were called poetry	I2
And I remember one remark which then	B2
Maddalo made He said 'Most wretched men	B2
Are cradled into poetry by wrong	H2
They learn in suffering what they teach in song '	-
	-
If I had been an unconnected man	B2
I from this moment should have formed some plan	B2
Never to leave sweet Venice for to me	I2
It was delight to ride by the lone sea	I2
And then the town is silent one may write	O
Or read in gondolas by day or night	O
Having the little brazen lamp alight	O
Unseen uninterrupted books are there	M
Pictures and casts from all those statues fair	M
Which were twin born with poetry and all	A
We seek in towns with little to recall	A
Regrets for the green country I might sit	O
In Maddalo's great palace and his wit	O
And subtle talk would cheer the winter night	O
And make me know myself and the firelight	O
Would flash upon our faces till the day	O
Might dawn and make me wonder at my stay	O
But I had friends in London too the chief	J2
Attraction here was that I sought relief	J2
From the deep tenderness that maniac wrought	O
Within me 'twas perhaps an idle thought	O
But I imagined that if day by day	O
I watched him and but seldom went away	O
And studied all the beatings of his heart	O
With zeal as men study some stubborn art	O
For their own good and could by patience find	O
An entrance to the caverns of his mind	O
I might reclaim him from this dark estate	O
In friendships I had been most fortunate	O
Yet never saw I one whom I would call	A
More willingly my friend and this was all	A
Accomplished not such dreams of baseless good	O
Oft come and go in crowds or solitude	O
And leave no trace but what I now designed	O
Made for long years impression on my mind	O
The following morning urged by my affairs	I2
I left bright Venice	I2
After many years	I2
And many changes I returned the name	Q
Of Venice and its aspect was the same	Q
But Maddalo was travelling far away	O
Among the mountains of Armenia	B2
His dog was dead His child had now become	U2
A woman such as it has been my doom	O2
To meet with few a wonder of this earth	G2
Where there is little of transcendent worth	G2
Like one of Shakespeare's women kindly she	I2
And with a manner beyond courtesy	I2
Received her father's friend and when I asked	O
Of the lorn maniac she her memory tasked	O
And told as she had heard the mournful tale	A
'That the poor sufferer's health began to fail	A
Two years from my departure but that then	B2
The lady who had left him came again	B2
Her mien had been imperious but she now	B2
Looked meek perhaps remorse had brought her low	I2
Her coming made him better and they stayed	O
Together at my father's for I played	O
As I remember with the lady's shawl	A
I might be six years old but after all	A
She left him ' 'Why her heart must have been tough	V2
How did it end ' 'And was not this enough	V2
They met they parted ' 'Child is there no more '	-
'Something within that interval which bore	M
The stamp of WHY they parted HOW they met	O
Yet if thine aged eyes disdain to wet	O
Those wrinkled cheeks with youth's remembered tears	I2
Ask me no more but let the silent years	I2
Be closed and cered over their memory	I2
As yon mute marble where their corpses lie '	-
I urged and questioned still she told me how	B2
All happened but the cold world shall not know	I2
	-
	-
CANCELLED FRAGMENTS OF JULIAN AND MADDALO	A
	-
'What think you the dead are ' 'Why dust and clay	A
What should they be ' ''Tis the last hour of day	A
Look on the west how beautiful it is	I2
Vaulted with radiant vapours The deep bliss	I2
Of that unutterable light has made	O
The edges of that cloud fade	O
Into a hue like some harmonious thought	O
Wasting itself on that which it had wrought	O
Till it dies and between	B2
The light hues of the tender pure serene	B2
And infinite tranquillity of heaven	B2
Ay beautiful but when not '	-
	-
'Perhaps the only comfort which remains	I2
Is the unheeded clanking of my chains	I2
The which I make and call it melody '	-

Percy Bysshe Shelley

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