The Revolt Of Islam. - Canto 5 Poem Rhyme Scheme and Analysis

Rhyme Scheme: ABCBCCDCDD BBBBBBBBB EBFBBBBBB GHGHHIHJ KBKBBBBBB LBLBBMBNJ BJBJJJJJJ BOBOOJOJ BBBBBPBQQ RSRSSCSCT UBUBBVBVV BBBBBWBXW BYBYYJYJJ VBVBBBBBB JZJZZBZBB A2JA2JJBJBB VBVBBB2BJJ JBJBBC2BVV VD2VD2D2JD2JJ JBJBBC2BC2C2 HE2HE2E2F2E2G2H2 BI2BI2I2HI2HH JJ2JK2C2L2M2L2L2 BBBBBN2BN2O2 BBBBBJBJJ HSHSSJSJJ P2C2P2C2C2JC2JJ K2JK2JJJJJJ Q2BR2BBS2BJ2S2 HJHJJBJBB T2JU2JJJJJ BJBJJV2JL BBBBBW2BW2W2 JJJJJBJB E2JE2JJBJBB BBBBBBBBB BJBJJX2JX2X2 Y2JY2JJHJHH X2BX2BBX2BBB VJVJJBJBB JJJJJHJHH Z2BZ2BBZ2BZ2Z2 JBJBBZ2BZ2Z2 BZ2BZ2Z2BZ2BB Y2JY2JJBJBB BBBBBZ2BZ2Z2 BBBBBA3BB3C3 BBBBBJBJJ BJ JJSJSS X2BX2BBY2BY2Y2 BBBBBY2BY2Y2JJJ X2X2X2BBX2BBZ2BJY2Y2 Z2Z2 Z2Z2X2BBX2BX2JX2JBBB B BBBBBBBX2Z2X2Z2Z2Z2B B Y2Y2Z2JJZ2JY2BY2BZ2Z 2Y2Y2 X2X2X2BBX2BY2JY2JJJY 2B Y2Y2Y2JJY2JY2Y2Y2Y2J JY2 X2X2X2X2X2D3X2D3D3 Y2X2Y2X2X2JX2JJ Z2Y2Z2Y2Y2HY2HH JY2JY2Y2SY2SS JBJBBBBBB Z2BZ2BBZ2BZ2Z2 X2Y2X2Y2Y2BY2BB

	A
Over the utmost hill at length I sped	B
A snowy steep the moon was hanging low	C
Over the Asian mountains and outspread	B
The plain the City and the Camp below	C
Skirted the midnight Ocean's glimmering flow	C
The City's moonlit spires and myriad lamps	D
Like stars in a sublunar sky did glow	C
And fires blazed far amid the scattered camps	D
Like springs of flame which burst where'er swift Earthquake stamps	D
	-
	-
All slept but those in watchful arms who stood	B
And those who sate tending the beacon's light	B
And the few sounds from that vast multitude	B
Made silence more profound Oh what a might	B
Of human thought was cradled in that night	B
How many hearts impenetrably veiled	B
Beat underneath its shade what secret fight	B
Evil and good in woven passions mailed	B
Waged through that silent throng a war that never failed	B
	-
	-
And now the Power of Good held victory	E
So through the labyrinth of many a tent	B
Among the silent millions who did lie	F
In innocent sleep exultingly I went	B
The moon had left Heaven desert now but lent	B
From eastern morn the first faint lustre showed	B
An armed youth over his spear he bent	B
His downward face 'A friend ' I cried aloud	B
And quickly common hopes made freemen understood	B
	-
	-
I sate beside him while the morning beam	G
Crept slowly over Heaven and talked with him	H
Of those immortal hopes a glorious theme	G
Which led us forth until the stars grew dim	H
And all the while methought his voice did swim	H
As if it drowned in remembrance were	I
Of thoughts which make the moist eyes overbrim	H
At last when daylight 'gan to fill the air	J
He looked on me and cried in wonder 'Thou art here '	-
	-
	-
Then suddenly I knew it was the youth	K
In whom its earliest hopes my spirit found	B
But envious tongues had stained his spotless truth	K
And thoughtless pride his love in silence bound	B
And shame and sorrow mine in toils had wound	B
Whilst he was innocent and I deluded	B
The truth now came upon me on the ground	B
Tears of repenting joy which fast intruded	B
Fell fast and o'er its peace our mingling spirits brooded	B
	-
	-
Thus while with rapid lips and earnest eyes	L
We talked a sound of sweeping conflict spread	B
As from the earth did suddenly arise	L
From every tent roused by that clamour dread	B
Our bands outsprung and seized their arms we sped	B
Towards the sound our tribes were gathering far	M
Those sanguine slaves amid ten thousand dead	B
Stabbed in their sleep trampled in treacherous war	N
The gentle hearts whose power their lives had sought to spare	J
	-
	-
Like rabid snakes that sting some gentle child	B
Who brings them food when winter false and fair	J
Allures them forth with its cold smiles so wild	B
They rage among the camp they overbear	J
The patriot hosts confusion then despair	J
Descends like night when 'Laon ' one did cry	J
Like a bright ghost from Heaven that shout did scare	J
The slaves and widening through the vaulted sky	J
Seemed sent from Earth to Heaven in sign of victory	J
	-
	-
In sudden panic those false murderers fled	B
Like insect tribes before the northern gale	O
But swifter still our hosts encompassed	B
Their shattered ranks and in a craggy vale	O
Where even their fierce despair might nought avail	O
Hemmed them around and then revenge and fear	J
Made the high virtue of the patriots fail	O
One pointed on his foe the mortal spear	J
I rushed before its point and cried 'Forbear forbear '	-
	-
	-
The spear transfixed my arm that was uplifted	B
In swift expostulation and the blood	B
Gushed round its point I smiled and 'Oh thou gifted	B
With eloquence which shall not be withstood	B
Flow thus ' I cried in joy 'thou vital flood	B
Until my heart be dry ere thus the cause	P
For which thou wert aught worthy be subdued	B
Ah ye are pale ye weep your passions pause	Q
'Tis well ye feel the truth of love's benignant laws	Q
	-
	-
'Soldiers our brethren and our friends are slain	R
Ye murdered them I think as they did sleep	S
Alas what have ye done the slightest pain	R
Which ye might suffer there were eyes to weep	S
But ye have quenched them there were smiles to steep	S
Your hearts in balm but they are lost in woe	C
And those whom love did set his watch to keep	S
Around your tents truth's freedom to bestow	C
Ye stabbed as they did sleep but they forgive ye now	T
	-
	-
'Oh wherefore should ill ever flow from ill	U
And pain still keener pain for ever breed	B
We all are brethren even the slaves who kill	U
For hire are men and to avenge misdeed	B
On the misdoer doth but Misery feed	B
With her own broken heart O Earth O Heaven	V
And thou dread Nature which to every deed	B
And all that lives or is to be hath given	V
Even as to thee have these done ill and are forgiven	V
	-
	-
'Join then your hands and hearts and let the past	B
Be as a grave which gives not up its dead	B
To evil thoughts ' A film then overcast	B
My sense with dimness for the wound which bled	B
Freshly swift shadows o'er mine eyes had shed	B
When I awoke I lay mid friends and foes	W
And earnest countenances on me shed	B
The light of questioning looks whilst one did close	X
My wound with balmiest herbs and soothed me to repose	W
	-
	-
And one whose spear had pierced me leaned beside	B
With quivering lips and humid eyes and all	Y
Seemed like some brothers on a journey wide	B
Gone forth whom now strange meeting did befall	Y
In a strange land round one whom they might call	Y
Their friend their chief their father for assay	J
Of peril which had saved them from the thrall	Y
Of death now suffering Thus the vast array	J
Of those fraternal bands were reconciled that day	J
	-
	-
Lifting the thunder of their acclamation	V
Towards the City then the multitude	B
And I among them went in joy a nation	V
Made free by love a mighty brotherhood	B
Linked by a jealous interchange of good	B
A glorious pageant more magnificent	B
Than kingly slaves arrayed in gold and blood	B
When they return from carnage and are sent	B
In triumph bright beneath the populous battlement	B
	-
	-
Afar the city walls were thronged on high	J
And myriads on each giddy turret clung	Z
And to each spire far lessening in the sky	J
Bright pennons on the idle winds were hung	Z
As we approached a shout of joyance sprung	Z
At once from all the crowd as if the vast	B
And peopled Earth its boundless skies among	Z
The sudden clamour of delight had cast	B
When from before its face some general wreck had passed	B
	-
	-
Our armies through the City's hundred gates	A2
Were poured like brooks which to the rocky lair	J
Of some deep lake whose silence them awaits	A2
Throng from the mountains when the storms are there	J
And as we passed through the calm sunny air	J
A thousand flower inwoven crowns were shed	B
The token flowers of truth and freedom fair	J
And fairest hands bound them on many a head	B
Those angels of love's heaven that over all was spread	B
	-
	-
I trod as one tranced in some rapturous vision	V
Those bloody bands so lately reconciled	B
Were ever as they went by the contrition	V
Of anger turned to love from ill beguiled	B
And every one on them more gently smiled	B
Because they had done evil the sweet awe	B2
Of such mild looks made their own hearts grow mild	B
And did with soft attraction ever draw	J
Their spirits to the love of freedom's equal law	J
	-
	-
And they and all in one loud symphony	J
My name with Liberty commingling lifted	B
'The friend and the preserver of the free	J
The parent of this joy ' and fair eyes gifted	B
With feelings caught from one who had uplifted	B
The light of a great spirit round me shone	C2
And all the shapes of this grand scenery shifted	B
Like restless clouds before the steadfast sun	V
Where was that Maid I asked but it was known of none	V
	-
	-
Laone was the name her love had chosen	V
For she was nameless and her birth none knew	D2
Where was Laone now The words were frozen	V
Within my lips with fear but to subdue	D2
Such dreadful hope to my great task was due	D2
And when at length one brought reply that she	J
To morrow would appear I then withdrew	D2
To judge what need for that great throng might be	J
For now the stars came thick over the twilight sea	J
	-
	-
Yet need was none for rest or food to care	J
Even though that multitude was passing great	B
Since each one for the other did prepare	J
All kindly succour Therefore to the gate	B
Of the Imperial House now desolate	B
I passed and there was found aghast alone	C2
The fallen Tyrant Silently he sate	B
Upon the footstool of his golden throne	C2
Which starred with sunny gems in its own lustre shone	C2
	-
	-
Alone but for one child who led before him	H
A graceful dance the only living thing	E2
Of all the crowd which thither to adore him	H
Flocked yesterday who solace sought to bring	E2
In his abandonment She knew the King	E2
Had praised her dance of yore and now she wove	F2
Its circles aye weeping and murmuring	E2
Mid her sad task of unregarded love	G2
That to no smiles it might his speechless sadness move	H2
	-
	-
She fled to him and wildly clasped his feet	B
When human steps were heard he moved nor spoke	I2
Nor changed his hue nor raised his looks to meet	B
The gaze of strangers our loud entrance woke	I2
The echoes of the hall which circling broke	I2
The calm of its recesses like a tomb	H
Its sculptured walls vacantly to the stroke	I2
Of footfalls answered and the twilight's gloom	H
Lay like a charnel's mist within the radiant dome	H
	-
	-
The little child stood up when we came nigh	J
Her lips and cheeks seemed very pale and wan	J2
But on her forehead and within her eye	J
Lay beauty which makes hearts that feed thereon	K2
Sick with excess of sweetness on the throne	C2
She leaned the King with gathered brow and lips	L2
Wreathed by long scorn did inly sneer and frown	M2
With hue like that when some great painter dips	L2
His pencil in the gloom of earthquake and eclipse	L2
	-
	-
She stood beside him like a rainbow braided	B
Within some storm when scarce its shadows vast	B
From the blue paths of the swift sun have faded	B
A sweet and solemn smile like Cythna's cast	B
One moment's light which made my heart beat fast	B
O'er that child's parted lips a gleam of bliss	N2
A shade of vanished days as the tears passed	B
Which wrapped it even as with a father's kiss	N2
I pressed those softest eyes in trembling tenderness	O2
	-
	-
The sceptred wretch then from that solitude	B
I drew and of his change compassionate	B
With words of sadness soothed his rugged mood	B
But he while pride and fear held deep debate	B
With sullen guile of ill dissembled hate	B
Glared on me as a toothless snake might glare	J
Pity not scorn I felt though desolate	B
The desolator now and unaware	J
The curses which he mocked had caught him by the hair	J
	-
	-
I led him forth from that which now might seem	H
A gorgeous grave through portals sculptured deep	S
With imagery beautiful as dream	H
We went and left the shades which tend on sleep	S
Over its unregarded gold to keep	S
Their silent watch The child trod faintingly	J
And as she went the tears which she did weep	S
Glanced in the starlight wildered seemed she	J
And when I spake for sobs she could not answer me	J
	-
	-
At last the tyrant cried 'She hungers slave	P2
Stab her or give her bread ' It was a tone	C2
Such as sick fancies in a new made grave	P2
Might hear I trembled for the truth was known	C2
He with this child had thus been left alone	C2
And neither had gone forth for food but he	J
In mingled pride and awe cowered near his throne	C2
And she a nursling of captivity	J
Knew nought beyond those walls nor what such change might be	J
	-
	-
And he was troubled at a charm withdrawn	K2
Thus suddenly that sceptres ruled no more	J
That even from gold the dreadful strength was gone	K2
Which once made all things subject to its power	J
Such wonder seized him as if hour by hour	J
The past had come again and the swift fall	J
Of one so great and terrible of yore	J
To desolateness in the hearts of all	J
Like wonder stirred who saw such awful change befall	J
	-
	-
A mighty crowd such as the wide land pours	Q2
Once in a thousand years now gathered round	B
The fallen tyrant like the rush of showers	R2
Of hail in spring pattering along the ground	B
Their many footsteps fell else came no sound	B
From the wide multitude that lonely man	S2
Then knew the burden of his change and found	B
Concealing in the dust his visage wan	J2
Refuge from the keen looks which through his bosom ran	S2
	-
	-
And he was faint withal I sate beside him	H
Upon the earth and took that child so fair	J
From his weak arms that ill might none betide him	H
Or her when food was brought to them her share	J
To his averted lips the child did bear	J
But when she saw he had enough she ate	B
And wept the while the lonely man's despair	J
Hunger then overcame and of his state	B
Forgetful on the dust as in a trance he sate	B
	-
	-
Slowly the silence of the multitudes	T2
Passed as when far is heard in some lone dell	J
The gathering of a wind among the woods	U2
'And he is fallen ' they cry 'he who did dwell	J
Like famine or the plague or aught more fell	J
Among our homes is fallen the murderer	J
Who slaked his thirsting soul as from a well	J
Of blood and tears with ruin he is here	J
Sunk in a gulf of scorn from which none may him rear '	-
	-
	-
Then was heard 'He who judged let him be brought	B
To judgement blood for blood cries from the soil	J
On which his crimes have deep pollution wrought	B
Shall Othman only unavenged despoil	J
Shall they who by the stress of grinding toil	J
Wrest from the unwilling earth his luxuries	V2
Perish for crime while his foul blood may boil	J
Or creep within his veins at will Arise	L
And to high justice make her chosen sacrifice '	-
	-
	-
'What do ye seek what fear ye ' then I cried	B
Suddenly starting forth 'that ye should shed	B
The blood of Othman if your hearts are tried	B
In the true love of freedom cease to dread	B
This one poor lonely man beneath Heaven spread	B
In purest light above us all through earth	W2
Maternal earth who doth her sweet smiles shed	B
For all let him go free until the worth	W2
Of human nature win from these a second birth	W2
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	-
'What call ye justice Is there one who ne'er	J
In secret thought has wished another's ill	J
Are ye all pure Let those stand forth who hear	J
And tremble not Shall they insult and kill	J
If such they be their mild eyes can they fill	J
With the false anger of the hypocrite	B
Alas such were not pure the chastened will	J
Of virtue sees that justice is the light	B
Of love and not revenge and terror and despite '	-
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	-
The murmur of the people slowly dying	E2
Paused as I spake then those who near me were	J
Cast gentle looks where the lone man was lying	E2
Shrouding his head which now that infant fair	J
Clasped on her lap in silence through the air	J
Sobs were then heard and many kissed my feet	B
In pity's madness and to the despair	J
Of him whom late they cursed a solace sweet	B
His very victims brought soft looks and speeches meet	B
	-
	-
Then to a home for his repose assigned	B
Accompanied by the still throng he went	B
In silence where to soothe his rankling mind	B
Some likeness of his ancient state was lent	B
And if his heart could have been innocent	B
As those who pardoned him he might have ended	B
His days in peace but his straight lips were bent	B
Men said into a smile which guile portended	B
A sight with which that child like hope with fear was blended	B
	-
	-
'Twas midnight now the eve of that great day	B
Whereon the many nations at whose call	J
The chains of earth like mist melted away	B
Decreed to hold a sacred Festival	J
A rite to attest the equality of all	J
Who live So to their homes to dream or wake	X2
All went The sleepless silence did recall	J
Laone to my thoughts with hopes that make	X2
The flood recede from which their thirst they seek to slake	X2
	-
	-
The dawn flowed forth and from its purple fountains	Y2
I drank those hopes which make the spirit quail	J
As to the plain between the misty mountains	Y2
And the great City with a countenance pale	J
I went it was a sight which might avail	J
To make men weep exulting tears for whom	H
Now first from human power the reverend veil	J
Was torn to see Earth from her general womb	H
Pour forth her swarming sons to a fraternal doom	H
	-
	-
To see far glancing in the misty morning	X2
The signs of that innumerable host	B
To hear one sound of many made the warning	X2
Of Earth to Heaven from its free children tossed	B
While the eternal hills and the sea lost	B
In wavering light and starring the blue sky	X2
The city's myriad spires of gold almost	B
With human joy made mute society	B
Its witnesses with men who must hereafter be	B
	-
	-
To see like some vast island from the Ocean	V
The Altar of the Federation rear	J
Its pile i' the midst a work which the devotion	V
Of millions in one night created there	J
Sudden as when the moonrise makes appear	J
Strange clouds in the east a marble pyramid	B
Distinct with steps that mighty shape did wear	J
The light of genius its still shadow hid	B
Far ships to know its height the morning mists forbid	B
	-
	-
To hear the restless multitudes for ever	J
Around the base of that great Altar flow	J
As on some mountain islet burst and shiver	J
Atlantic waves and solemnly and slow	J
As the wind bore that tumult to and fro	J
To feel the dreamlike music which did swim	H
Like beams through floating clouds on waves below	J
Falling in pauses from that Altar dim	H
As silver sounding tongues breathed an aerial hymn	H
	-
	-
To hear to see to live was on that morn	Z2
Lethean joy so that all those assembled	B
Cast off their memories of the past outworn	Z2
Two only bosoms with their own life trembled	B
And mine was one and we had both dissembled	B
So with a beating heart I went and one	Z2
Who having much covets yet more resembled	B
A lost and dear possession which not won	Z2
He walks in lonely gloom beneath the noonday sun	Z2
	-
	-
To the great Pyramid I came its stair	J
With female choirs was thronged the loveliest	B
Among the free grouped with its sculptures rare	J
As I approached the morning's golden mist	B
Which now the wonder stricken breezes kissed	B
With their cold lips fled and the summit shone	Z2
Like Athos seen from Samothracia dressed	B
In earliest light by vintagers and one	Z2
Sate there a female Shape upon an ivory throne	Z2
	-
	-
A Form most like the imagined habitant	B
Of silver exhalations sprung from dawn	Z2
By winds which feed on sunrise woven to enchant	B
The faiths of men all mortal eyes were drawn	Z2
As famished mariners through strange seas gone	Z2
Gaze on a burning watch tower by the light	B
Of those divinest lineaments alone	Z2
With thoughts which none could share from that fair sight	B
I turned in sickness for a veil shrouded her countenance bright	B
	-
	-
And neither did I hear the acclamations	Y2
Which from brief silence bursting filled the air	J
With her strange name and mine from all the nations	Y2
Which we they said in strength had gathered there	J
From the sleep of bondage nor the vision fair	J
Of that bright pageantry beheld but blind	B
And silent as a breathing corpse did fare	J
Leaning upon my friend till like a wind	B
To fevered cheeks a voice flowed o'er my troubled mind	B
	-
	-
Like music of some minstrel heavenly gifted	B
To one whom fiends enthral this voice to me	B
Scarce did I wish her veil to be uplifted	B
I was so calm and joyous I could see	B
The platform where we stood the statues three	B
Which kept their marble watch on that high shrine	Z2
The multitudes the mountains and the sea	B
As when eclipse hath passed things sudden shine	Z2
To men's astonished eyes most clear and crystalline	Z2
	-
	-
At first Laone spoke most tremulously	B
But soon her voice the calmness which it shed	B
Gathered and 'Thou art whom I sought to see	B
And thou art our first votary here ' she said	B
'I had a dear friend once but he is dead	B
And of all those on the wide earth who breathe	A3
Thou dost resemble him alone I spread	B
This veil between us two that thou beneath	B3
Shouldst image one who may have been long lost in death	C3
	-
	-
'For this wilt thou not henceforth pardon me	B
Yes but those joys which silence well requite	B
Forbid reply why men have chosen me	B
To be the Priestess of this holiest rite	B
I scarcely know but that the floods of light	B
Which flow over the world have borne me hither	J
To meet thee long most dear and now unite	B
Thine hand with mine and may all comfort wither	J
From both the hearts whose pulse in joy now beat together	J
	-
	-
'If our own will as others' law we bind	B
If the foul worship trampled here we fear	J
If as ourselves we cease to love our kind '	-
She paused and pointed upwards sculptured there	J
Three shapes around her ivory throne appear	J
One was a Giant like a child asleep	S
On a loose rock whose grasp crushed as it were	J
In dream sceptres and crowns and one did keep	S
Its watchful eyes in doubt whether to smile or weep	S
	-
	-
A Woman sitting on the sculptured disk	X2
Of the broad earth and feeding from one breast	B
A human babe and a young basilisk	X2
Her looks were sweet as Heaven's when loveliest	B
In Autumn eves The third Image was dressed	B
In white wings swift as clouds in winter skies	Y2
Beneath his feet 'mongst ghastliest forms repressed	B
Lay Faith an obscene worm who sought to rise	Y2
While calmly on the Sun he turned his diamond eyes	Y2
	-
	-
Beside that Image then I sate while she	B
Stood mid the throngs which ever ebbed and flowed	B
Like light amid the shadows of the sea	B
Cast from one cloudless star and on the crowd	B
That touch which none who feels forgets bestowed	B
And whilst the sun returned the steadfast gaze	Y2
Of the great Image as o'er Heaven it glode	B
That rite had place it ceased when sunset's blaze	Y2
Burned o'er the isles All stood in joy and deep amaze	Y2
When in the silence of all spirits there	J
Laone's voice was felt and through the air	J
Her thrilling gestures spoke most eloquently fair	J
	-
	-
'Calm art thou as yon sunset swift and strong	X2
As new fledged Eagles beautiful and young	X2
That float among the blinding beams of morning	X2
And underneath thy feet writhe Faith and Folly	B
Custom and Hell and mortal Melancholy	B
Hark the Earth starts to hear the mighty warning	X2
Of thy voice sublime and holy	B
Its free spirits here assembled	B
See thee feel thee know thee now	Z2
To thy voice their hearts have trembled	B
Like ten thousand clouds which flow	J
With one wide wind as it flies	Y2
Wisdom thy irresistible children rise	Y2
To hail thee and the elements they chain	Z2
And their own will to swell the glory of thy train	Z2
	-
	-
'O Spirit vast and deep as Night and Heaven	Z2
Mother and soul of all to which is given	Z2
The light of life the loveliness of being	X2
Lo thou dost re ascend the human heart	B
Thy throne of power almighty as thou wert	B
In dreams of Poets old grown pale by seeing	X2
The shade of thee now millions start	B
To feel thy lightnings through them burning	X2
Nature or God or Love or Pleasure	J
Or Sympathy the sad tears turning	X2
To mutual smiles a drainless treasure	J
Descends amidst us Scorn and Hate	B
Revenge and Selfishness are desolate	B
A hundred nations swear that there shall be	B
Pity and Peace and Love among the good and free	B
	-
	-
'Eldest of things divine Equality	B
Wisdom and Love are but the slaves of thee	B
The Angels of thy sway who pour around thee	B
Treasures from all the cells of human thought	B
And from the Stars and from the Ocean brought	B
And the last living heart whose beatings bound thee	B
The powerful and the wise had sought	B
Thy coming thou in light descending	X2
O'er the wide land which is thine own	Z2
Like the Spring whose breath is blending	X2
All blasts of fragrance into one	Z2
Comest upon the paths of men	Z2
Earth bares her general bosom to thy ken	Z2
And all her children here in glory meet	B
To feed upon thy smiles and clasp thy sacred feet	B
	-
	-
'My brethren we are free the plains and mountains	Y2
The gray sea shore the forests and the fountains	Y2
Are haunts of happiest dwellers man and woman	Z2
Their common bondage burst may freely borrow	J
From lawless love a solace for their sorrow	J
For oft we still must weep since we are human	Z2
A stormy night's serenest morrow	J
Whose showers are pity's gentle tears	Y2
Whose clouds are smiles of those that die	B
Like infants without hopes or fears	Y2
And whose beams are joys that lie	B
In blended hearts now holds dominion	Z2
The dawn of mind which upwards on a pinion	Z2
Borne swift as sunrise far illumines space	Y2
And clasps this barren world in its own bright embrace	Y2
	-
	-
'My brethren we are free The fruits are glowing	X2
Beneath the stars and the night winds are flowing	X2
O'er the ripe corn the birds and beasts are dreaming	X2
Never again may blood of bird or beast	B
Stain with its venomous stream a human feast	B
To the pure skies in accusation steaming	X2
Avenging poisons shall have ceased	B
To feed disease and fear and madness	Y2
The dwellers of the earth and air	J
Shall throng around our steps in gladness	Y2
Seeking their food or refuge there	J
Our toil from thought all glorious forms shall cull	J
To make this Earth our home more beautiful	J
And Science and her sister Poesy	Y2
Shall clothe in light the fields and cities of the free	B
	-
	-
'Victory Victory to the prostrate nations	Y2
Bear witness Night and ye mute Constellations	Y2
Who gaze on us from your crystalline cars	Y2
Thoughts have gone forth whose powers can sleep no more	J
Victory Victory Earth's remotest shore	J
Regions which groan beneath the Antarctic stars	Y2
The green lands cradled in the roar	J
Of western waves and wildernesses	Y2
Peopled and vast which skirt the oceans	Y2
Where morning dyes her golden tresses	Y2
Shall soon partake our high emotions	Y2
Kings shall turn pale Almighty Fear	J
The Fiend God when our charmed name he hear	J
Shall fade like shadow from his thousand fanes	Y2
While Truth with Joy enthroned o'er his lost empire reigns '	-
	-
	-
Ere she had ceased the mists of night entwining	X2
Their dim woof floated o'er the infinite throng	X2
She like a spirit through the darkness shining	X2
In tones whose sweetness silence did prolong	X2
As if to lingering winds they did belong	X2
Poured forth her inmost soul a passionate speech	D3
With wild and thrilling pauses woven among	X2
Which whoso heard was mute for it could teach	D3
To rapture like her own all listening hearts to reach	D3
	-
	-
Her voice was as a mountain stream which sweeps	Y2
The withered leaves of Autumn to the lake	X2
And in some deep and narrow bay then sleeps	Y2
In the shadow of the shores as dead leaves wake	X2
Under the wave in flowers and herbs which make	X2
Those green depths beautiful when skies are blue	J
The multitude so moveless did partake	X2
Such living change and kindling murmurs flew	J
As o'er that speechless calm delight and wonder grew	J
	-
	-
Over the plain the throngs were scattered then	Z2
In groups around the fires which from the sea	Y2
Even to the gorge of the first mountain glen	Z2
Blazed wide and far the banquet of the free	Y2
Was spread beneath many a dark cypress tree	Y2
Beneath whose spires which swayed in the red flame	H
Reclining as they ate of Liberty	Y2
And Hope and Justice and Laone's name	H
Earth's children did a woof of happy converse frame	H
	-
	-
Their feast was such as Earth the general mother	J
Pours from her fairest bosom when she smiles	Y2
In the embrace of Autumn to each other	J
As when some parent fondly reconciles	Y2
Her warring children she their wrath beguiles	Y2
With her own sustenance they relenting weep	S
Such was this Festival which from their isles	Y2
And continents and winds and oceans deep	S
All shapes might throng to share that fly or walk or creep	S
	-
	-
Might share in peace and innocence for gore	J
Or poison none this festal did pollute	B
But piled on high an overflowing store	J
Of pomegranates and citrons fairest fruit	B
Melons and dates and figs and many a root	B
Sweet and sustaining and bright grapes ere yet	B
Accursed fire their mild juice could transmute	B
Into a mortal bane and brown corn set	B
In baskets with pure streams their thirsting lips they wet	B
	-
	-
Laone had descended from the shrine	Z2
And every deepest look and holiest mind	B
Fed on her form though now those tones divine	Z2
Were silent as she passed she did unwind	B
Her veil as with the crowds of her own kind	B
She mixed some impulse made my heart refrain	Z2
From seeking her that night so I reclined	B
Amidst a group where on the utmost plain	Z2
A festal watchfire burned beside the dusky main	Z2
	-
	-
And joyous was our feast pathetic talk	X2
And wit and harmony of choral strains	Y2
While far Orion o'er the waves did walk	X2
That flow among the isles held us in chains	Y2
Of sweet captivity which none disdains	Y2
Who feels but when his zone grew dim in mist	B
Which clothes the Ocean's bosom o'er the plains	Y2
The multitudes went homeward to their rest	B
Which that delightful day with its own shadow blessed	B

Percy Bysshe Shelley

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