Porphyrion Poem Rhyme Scheme and Analysis

Rhyme Scheme: ABCDEFGHIJKLMN OJP QRSJCTUVWXYZA2B2C2D2 E2F2G2H2I2J2K2L2HM2 QN2O2P2Q2R2S2T2U2V2W 2BX2Y2FZ2A3Z2Z2Z2Z2B 3Z2C3D3I2E3Z2LP2TP2R F3Z2G3H3FI3J3LZ2Z2P2 TZ2Z2P2Z2K3Z2Z2FZ2Z2 L3M3N3O3P2P3Q3Z2R3S3 T3Z2Z2Z2AU3 A3V3W3G2Z2Z2D2Z2X3G2 A2Y3Z2Z3Z2A4O2B4Z2C4 P2Z2D4C3B4T3W2Z2NZ2E 4Z2P2F4I2FP2AZ2LG4H4 Z2Z2TP2S3Z2A I4S3BZ2 N3T J4K4 P2Z2F4A2U3L4D2Z2AM4P 2N4O4B4Z2P4Y3FC3Z2B4 Z2P2I4LFX2Q4P2B3LD2W 2P2U3F4 M3R4S4Z2RZ2I4 P2T4FEU4B4TV4V4Z2V4N 4 P2P2B4Z2U3V4TLZ2C4M3 Z2 V4Z2W2Z2V4W4W4FV4LZ2 V4Z2Z2V4 I2B4X4Z2V4Z2V4Z2 Z2U3Z2Z2V4P2V4Z2 FY4NZ2T3W4Z2V4Z4Z2Z2 V4W2X4Z2B4W4V4Z2I2 V4Z2 V4F3W2W4U3V4Z2Z2P2Z2 V4Z2V4Z2X2W4V4V4Z2 P2P2P2Z2L2W4V4Z2Y3Z2 P2U3V4 V4FW4TV4V4X2F3W4LZ2P 2 AZ2Z2P2V3F3V4B4F3F3Z 2V4X4W4V4Z2Z2Z2K4P2G 3Z2V4 F3V4V4X2Z2Z2LUP2 Z2NV4F3Z2W2N2Z2FZ2F3 M3P2O4AV4V4Z2V4B3Z2 O4AP2F3Z2F3W2Z2Z2Z2N 3Z2V4V4LP2K4Z2Z2O3 P3O4Z4Z2V4P2Z2FV4O4Z 2V4QZ2V4M3N2V4RZ2 Z2Z2P2P2FV4Z2Z2V4 Z2Z2P2P2F3Z2QV4Z2C3P 2Z2Z2C3V4LV4Z2Z2P2B4 V4Z2Z2Z2T3 F3F3Z2P2Z2X2Z2Z2P2V4 F3Z2V4F3 T3Z2F3B3F3Z2F3F3F3F3 V4Z2Z2Z2C3V4Z2NV4Z2R Z2F3F3V4F3Z2Z2V4F3B4 Z2Z2X2F3F3H2B4 N2B4V4V4C3Z2P2V4Z2Z2 B4V4V4Z2F3Z2Z2 B4F3B4Z2Z2V4M3V4F3Z2 W2 V4RZ2Z2 V4B4 P2Z2Z2P2P2F3 V4C3P2P2Z2C3V4V4F3V4 P2Z2V4Z2V4V4V4V4F3V4 Z2Z2V4 ARV4Z2Z2P2W2B4V4 F3Z2F3F3V4Z2V4B4F3V4 P2Z2Z2 C4Z2P2Z2V4Z2V4V4V4Z2 F3F3B4F3S4Z2FV4Z2H2V 4W2 Z2Z2Z2UP2Z2Z2V4Z2V4P 2P2FF3V4Z2F3Z2Z2C3V4 W2B4Z2 V4Z2F3B4Z2Z2P2V4S4Z2 Z2F3Z2Z2 V4V4V4T3Z2Z2B4X2P2V4 F3P2L4FV4Z2Z2F3Z2C3L 4V4Z2Z3Z2F3V4Z2Z2Z2Z 2Z2Z2Z2Z2Z2Z2 Z2Z2V4V4F3V4V4Z2V4Z2 Z2V4Z2Z2V4F3V4N2V4P2 V4F3Z2S4F3V4F3Z2Z2 Z2F3Z2V4FF3Z2Z2B4FZ2 Z2Z2Z2Z2V4Z2Z2F3 Z2Z3Z2Z2V4Z2V4F3F3Z2 V4V4V4B4Z2V4Z2Z2F3Z2 Z2Z2Z2F3S4N4Z2Z2Z2 Z2P2FZ2B4P2Z2Z2Z2F3V 4Z2Z2B4Z2M2V4F3S4F3Z 2Z2FV4Z2Z2F3V4P2FB4V 4F3V4V4Z2B4FW2Z2Z2Z2 C3V4Z2 Z2Z2H2Z2Z2V4W2V4H2Z2 Z2V4V4W2F3B4Z2Z2V4FN 2V4V4Z2 P2V4Z2F3V4V4V4V4Z2Z2 Z2Z2F3B4Z2Z2 Z2V4V4Z2Z2V4Z2Z2B4B4 P2V4Z2N4Z2B4Z2N4NZ2Z 2V4Z2 V4NP2RV4B4Z2 F3V4F3F3Z2M3F3 B4Z2Z2Z2F3Z2V4Z2C3 Z4Z2F3N2V4F Z2B4FZ2Z2B4M3Z4Z2F3Z 2Z2B4V4V4V4V4S4V4F3B 4 Z2F3NV4F3Z2V4Z2FZ2Z2 P2V4 RV4B4Z2F3F3W2G4B4Z2Z 2V4V4Z2Z2V4B4V4Z2 V4F3 B4B4 Z2 Z2F3Z2 V4Z2Z2 Z2 F3F3T3 Z2V4Z2Z2Z2V4Z2V4Z4Z2 Z2Z2Z2C4Z2Z2 P2Z2Z2Z2P2V4F3 Z2F3Z2Z2Z2V4Z2V4 F3Z2P2F3B4Z2Z3P2Z2B4 V4C4V4F3 Z2B4Z2Z2Z2Z2F3Z2F Z2Z2V4 Z2N2FZ2F3Z2V4Z2V4Z2C 3V4Z2B4Z2 N2Z2Z2F3B4Z2B4H2Z2 Z2C3B4Z2Z2F3Z2 P2Z2C3V4V4V4B4N2 V4Z2V4F3Z2V4Z2F3B4Z2 V4Z2Z2 F3B4V4Z2V4B4S4B4Z2V4 Z2 F3QF3V4Z2Z2Z2Z4QV4P2 Z2F3 Z2V4V4V4RV4Z2 Z2F3Z2V4F3V4Z2V4V4F3 B4V4V4 V4F3Z2Z2P2Z2Z2Z2 P2V4F3Z2 Z2QZ2Z2Z2B4 Z2V4M3Z2F3V4V4V4V4Z2 F3V4B4Z2C3Z2Z2Z2V4B4 Z2Z2P2F3X2V4V4V4F3 V4V4Z4V4 Z2P2V4V4V4Z2S4V4F3 Z2F3F3F3B4B4B4V4F3W2 S4Z2V4V4V4B4 Z2V4V4F3F3Z2 B4Z2F3V4Z2V4Z2Z2F3Z2 Z2 F3H2Z3Z2Z2Z2Z2B4 FZ2P2V4Z2V4F Z2Z2G4Z2F3V4V4Z2B4Z2 Z2B4V4T3Z2F3F3P2Z2F3 FV4B4F3V4 P2N4Z2V4Z2W2B4 FV4V4F3V4Z2Z3Z2 Z2Z2X2P2F3V4Z2V4Z2Z2 Z2Z2 Z2Z2Z2F3V4Z2V4 V4F3T3Z2V4Z4 V4F3Z2Z2B4B4Z2F3F3Z2 Z2B4N4V4V4Z2 V4Z2B4Z2P2Z2Z2Z2P2Z2 Z2F3B4Z2Z2Z2Z2Z2S4N4 Z2 F3F3V4Z2F3 F3F3V4Z2V4Z2F3B4F3F3 Z2Z2Z3P2Z2P2Z2P2H2S4 B4P2F3Z2Z2F3V4Z2V4B4 F3H2Z2P2V4P2Z2

Book I	A
O from the dungeon of this flesh to break	B
At last and to have peace '' Porphyrion cried	C
Inly tormented as with pain he toiled	D
Before his dwelling in the Syrian noon	E
The desert idly echoing answered him	F
Had not the desert peace All empty stood	G
That region the swept mansion of the wind	H
Pillars of skyey rock encompassed it	I
Afar there was no voice nor any sound	J
Of living creature but from morn to eve	K
Silence abounding that o'erflowed the air	L
And the waste sunshine and on stone and herb	M
The tinge and odour of neglected time	N
	-
Yet into vacancy the troubled heart	O
Brings its own fullness and Porphyrion found	J
The void a prison and in the silence chains	P
	-
He in the unripe fervour of sweet youth	Q
Hearing a prophet's cry had fled from mirth	R
And revel to assuaging solitude	S
He turned from soft entreaties he unwound	J
The arms that would have stayed him he denied	C
His friends and cast the garland from his brow	T
Pangs of diviner hunger urged him forth	U
Into the wild for ever there to lose	V
Love hate and wrath and fleshly tyrannies	W
And madness of desire tumultuous life	X
Full of sweet peril thronged with rich alarms	Y
Dismayed his soul too suddenly revealed	Z
And far into the wilderness from face	A2
And feet of men he fled by memory fierce	B2
Pursued till in the impenetrable hills	C2
He deemed at last to have discovered peace	D2
Three years amid the wilderness he dwelt	E2
In solitary pure aspiring turned	F2
Toward the immortal Light that all the stars	G2
Outshines and the frail shadow of our death	H2
Consumes for ever and sustains the sun	I2
The voiceless days in pious order flowed	J2
Calm as the gliding shadow of a cloud	K2
On Lebanon morn followed after morn	L2
Like the still coming of a stream his mind	H
Was habited in silence like a robe	M2
	-
Then gradually mutinous quenched youth	Q
Swelled up again within him hard to tame	N2
For like that secret Asian wave that drinks	O2
The ever running rivers and holds all	P2
In jealous wells so had the desert drunk	Q2
All his young thoughts wishes and idle tears	R2
Nor any sigh returned but in his breast	S2
Sweet yearnings and the thousand needs that live	T2
Upon the touch of others impulses	U2
Quick as dim buds are to the rain and light	V2
Falterings and leanings backward after joy	W2
And dewy flowerings in the heart that make	B
Life fragrant were all sealed and frozen up	X2
Now at calm evening the just waving boughs	Y2
Of the lone tree began to trouble him	F
Almost he had arisen following swift	Z2
As after beckoning hands Now every dawn	A3
At once disrobed him of tranquillity	Z2
Fever had taken him and he was wrought	Z2
Into perpetual strangeness visited	Z2
By rumours and bright hauntings from the world	Z2
And now the noon intolerable grew	B3
The very rock hanging about him seemed	Z2
To listen for his footfall and the stream	C3
Commented whispering to the rushes Ah	D3
The little lizard blinking in the sun	I2
Was spying on his soul A terror ran	E3
Into his veins and he cried out aloud	Z2
And heard his own voice ringing in the air	L
A sound to start at echoing fearfully	P2
He paced with fingers clenched with knotted brow	T
He cast himself upon the ground to feel	P2
His wild breast nearer the impassive earth	R
So far away in peace but all in vain	F3
And springing up he cast swift eyes around	Z2
Like a sore hunted creature that must seek	G3
A path to fly alas from his own thoughts	H3
What outer wilderness shall harbour him	F
Then after many idle purposes	I3
And such vain wringing of the hands as use	J3
Men slowly overtaken by despair	L
He sought in toil last refuge to forget	Z2
And he began to labour at the plot	Z2
Before his rocky cell digging the soil	P2
With patience and the sweat was on his brow	T
All the lone day he toiled until at last	Z2
He rested heavy on the spade and bowed	Z2
His head upon his hands a shadow lay	P2
Beneath him and deep silence all around	Z2
The silence seized him As a man who feels	K3
Some eye upon him unperceived he turned	Z2
His head in fear and lo a little sound	Z2
Among the reeds like laughter mocked at him	F
And he discerned bright eyes in ambush hid	Z2
Beyond the bushes and he heard distinct	Z2
A song borne to him with the clapping hands	L3
Of banqueters an old song heard afresh	M3
That melted quivering in his heart and woke	N3
Delicious memory all his senses hung	O3
To listen when that voice sang to his soul	P2
Then fearfully aware he shuddered back	P3
Yet could not shake the music from his ears	Q3
He cast the spade down with quick beating heart	Z2
And sought that voice whence came it but the reeds	R3
In the soft running stream were motionless	S3
The bushes vacant all the valley dumb	T3
And clear upon the yellowed region burned	Z2
Evening serene Then his sore troubled heart	Z2
With a tumultuous surging in his breast	Z2
Heaved to the calm heaven in a bitter cry	A
I have no strength I have no refuge more	U3
Father ere thou forsake me send me peace ''	-
	-
Scarce had the sun into his furnace drawn	A3
The western hills whose molten peaks shot far	V3
Over the wide waste region fiery rays	W3
When swiftly Night descended with her stars	G2
And lo upon this wrought unhappy spirit	Z2
At last out of the darkness raining mild	Z2
In precious dew upon the desert peace	D2
Incredibly descended with the night	Z2
He stood immersed in the sweet falling hush	X3
Over him liquid gloom quivered with stars	G2
Appearing endlessly as each its place	A2
Remembered and in order tranquil shone	Y3
Easily all his fever was allayed	Z2
And as a traveller strained against a storm	Z3
That meets him buffeting the mountain side	Z2
Suddenly entering a deep hollow finds	A4
Magical ease over his nerves and thinks	O2
He never tasted stillness till that hour	B4
So eager he surrendered and relaxed	Z2
His will persuaded sweetly beyond hope	C4
	-
Tranquil at last his solitary cell	P2
He entered and a taper lit that shed	Z2
Upon rude arches and deep shadowed walls	D4
A clearness tempering all with gentle beam	C3
Then he that with such anguish of desire	B4
Had supplicated peace now peace was come	T3
Of all forgetful save of his strange joy	W2
That dear guest in his bosom entertained	Z2
From trouble and from the stealing steps of time	N
Sequestered housed within a blissful mood	Z2
Of contemplation like a sacred shrine	E4
And poured his soul out into gratitude	Z2
Released how long there was no tongue to tell	P2
Nor was himself aware no warning voice	F4
Admonished and the great stars altered heaven	I2
Unnoted and the hours moved over him	F
When on his ear and slowly into his soul	P2
Deliciously distilling stole a sigh	A
O like the blossoming of peace it seemed	Z2
Or like an odour heard or as the air	L
Had mirrored his own yearning joy in speech	G4
A whisper wandering out of Paradise	H4
Porphyrion Porphyrion '' Like a wind	Z2
Shaking a tree that whisper shook his heart	Z2
Keen to reality enkindled now	T
His inmost fibre was aware of all	P2
Vast night and the unpeopled wilderness	S3
Around him silent in that solitude	Z2
Himself and near to him a human sigh	A
	-
Immediately the faint voice called again	I4
'Thou only in this perilous wilderness	S3
Hast found a refuge ah for pity's sake	B
Open It is a woman weak and lost	Z2
In this great darkness that importunes thee ''	-
	-
Then with a beating heart Porphyrion spoke	N3
O woman I have made my soul a vow	T
To look upon a human face no more ''	-
	-
'Yet in some corner might I rest my limbs	J4
That are so weary with much wandering	K4
And thou be unhurt by the sight of me ''	-
	-
Sweet was the voice doubting he answered slow	P2
'Thou troublest me I know not who thou art	Z2
That com'st so strangely and I fear thy voice	F4
What wouldst thou with me Enter but my face	A2
Seek not to meet '' Then he unclosed the door	U3
But turned aside and knelt apart and strove	L4
Again to enter the sweet house of peace	D2
Yet his heart listened as with hurried feet	Z2
The woman entered and he heard her sigh	A
Like one that after peril breathes secure	M4
Now the more fixedly he prayed his will	P2
Was fervent to be lost in holy calm	N4
So hardly new recovered but his ear	O4
Yearned for each gentle human sound the stir	B4
Of garments moving hand or heaving breast	Z2
Amid his prayer he questioned who is this	P4
That wanders in this wilderness alone	Y3
And as he thought the faint voice came to him	F
'I hunger '' Then as men do in a dream	C3
Obeying without will he sought and found	Z2
Food from his store and brought and gave to her	B4
But as he gave he touched her on the hand	Z2
He looked at unawares then turned away	P2
And dared with venturing eyes to look again	I4
And when he had looked he could not look elsewhere	L
O what an unknown sweetness troubled him	F
He gazed and as wine blushes through a cup	X2
Of water slowly in sure winding coils	Q4
Of crimson the pale solitude of his soul	P2
Was filled and flushed and he was born anew	B3
Instantly he forgot all his despair	L
And anguished supplications after peace	D2
Not peace but to be filled with this strange joy	W2
He pined for while that lovely miracle	P2
His eyes possessed nor wonder wanted more	U3
At last his breast heaved and he found a voice	F4
	-
Mystery speak O once again refresh	M3
My famished ear with thy sweet syllables	R4
Thou comest from the desert night all bloom	S4
I fear to look away lest thou shouldst fade	Z2
Art thou too moulded out of simple earth	R
As I or only visitest my sight	Z2
Deluding Ah Delusion breathe again	I4
The music of thy voice into my soul ''	-
	-
As if a rose had sprung within his cell	P2
And magically opened odorous leaves	T4
So felt he as she raised her eyes on him	F
And spoke 'Hast thou forgotten then so soon	E
Hast thou not vowed never again to look	U4
On face of woman or of man Remember	B4
Ere it be lost thy vow thy treasured vow	T
O turn away thy wonder wounded eyes	V4
Call back thy rashly wandering looks unsay	V4
Thy words and this frail image from thy breast	Z2
Lock harshly out Defend thy soul with prayers	V4
Nor hazard for a dream thy holy calm	N4
Lest thou repent and this joy shatter thee ''	-
	-
While thus she spoke the stirring of her soul	P2
Even as a breeze is seen upon a pool	P2
Appeared upon her face Like the pale flower	B4
Of darkness the sweet moon that dazzles first	Z2
And then delights unfolding more and more	U3
Her beauty shining full of histories	V4
On the dark world upon Porphyrion now	T
She shone and he was lifted into air	L
Such as immortals breathe who dwell in light	Z2
Of memory beginningless and hope	C4
Endless and joy old and forever fresh	M3
He heard yet heard not and still gazing sighed	Z2
	-
Pour on delicious Music in my ears	V4
Thy sweetness for I parch I am athirst	Z2
Three years have I been vacant of all joy	W2
Have mocked my sense with famine and the sound	Z2
Of wind and reed but in thy voice is bliss	V4
How am I changed since I have looked on thee	W4
Thou art not dream Yet if a vision only	W4
Tell me not yet suffer me still to brim	F
My sight to overflowing to rejoice	V4
My heart to melting even to despair	L
Thou art not dream Yet tell me what thou art	Z2
That in this desert venturest so deep ''	-
	-
'Seek not '' she answered 'what I am nor whence	V4
I come in destiny perhaps my hand	Z2
Was stretched toward thee and my way prepared	Z2
Only rejoice that thou didst not refuse	V4
Help to the helpless and hast succoured me ''	-
	-
As the awakened earth beholds the sun	I2
Her saviour when his beam delivers her	B4
From icy prison and that annual fear	X4
Of death Porphyrion in his bosom felt	Z2
Pangs of recovered ecstasy old thoughts	V4
Made young and sweet desires bursting his heart	Z2
Like the fresh bursting of a thousand leaves	V4
Uplifted into rapture he exclaimed	Z2
	-
O full of bliss out of the empty world	Z2
That comest wondrous I will ask no more	U3
Enough that thou art here that I behold	Z2
Thy face and in thee mirrored all the world	Z2
Created newly Eyes my oracles	V4
What days what years of wonder ye foretell	P2
As in a dewdrop all the morning shines	V4
I see in you time glorious grief refreshed	Z2
And Fate undone '' 'Seest thou only this ''	-
She said and earnestly regarded him	F
'Art thou so eager after joy Yet think	Y4
In what a boundless wilderness of time	N
We wander brief Art thou so swift to taste	Z2
Of thy mortality Yet I am come	T3
To bring thee tidings out of every sea	W4
Not pearls alone but shipwrecks in the night	Z2
Unsuccoured and disastrous luring fires	V4
And tossings infinite and peril strange	Z4
O wilt thou dare embark Dost thou not dread	Z2
This ocean in whose murmur seems delight	Z2
Will even thy hunger drive thee through the waves	V4
To bliss I look on thee and see the joy	W2
Rise up within thy bosom and I fear	X4
So fragile is this sweetness and so vast	Z2
The world O venturous glad voyager	B4
Be sure of all thy courage for I see	W4
Far off the cloud of sorrow and bright spears	V4
And dirges and joy changed from what it seemed	Z2
Art thou still fervent O impetuous one	I2
Still hastest thou to fly tranquillity ''	-
	-
But he on whom she looked with those deep eyes	V4
Of bright compassion answered undismayed	Z2
	-
Let me drink deep of this fountain of bliss	V4
Speak not of mortal fear speak not of pain	F3
Thou painest but with joy Thou art all joy	W2
And in the world I have no joy but thee	W4
O that I had the wasted days once more	U3
Since to this idle barren wilderness	V4
I fled in fear of the tumultuous world	Z2
Enamoured of the silence here I dreamed	Z2
In lonely prayer to satiate my soul	P2
But now I want Rain on my thirsty heart	Z2
Thy charm and by so much as was my loss	V4
By so much more enrich me I have stript	Z2
My days imprisoned wandering desires	V4
Made of my mind a jealous solitude	Z2
Pruned overrunning thoughts and rooted up	X2
Delight and the vain weeds of memory	W4
Imagining far off to capture peace	V4
Blind fool But O no let me rather praise	V4
Foreseeing Fate that kept so fast a watch
Over my bliss and of my heart prepared	Z2
A wilderness to bloom with only thee ''	-
	-
Even now he would embrace her but awhile	P2
She with delaying gesture stayed him still	P2
Wistfully doubting and perusing well	P2
His inmost gaze and his adoring heart	Z2
As from bright water on some early morn	L2
Under a beautiful dim branching tree	W4
A gleam floats up among the leaves and sends	V4
Light into darkness wavering from the light	Z2
Of his enraptured face a radiance shone	Y3
Into the mystery of her eyes at last	Z2
To his warm being she resigned her soul	P2
She on his heart inscribed for evermore	U3
Her look in that deep moment and her love
At unawares this trembled from her lips	V4
	-
O joyful spirit I too have need of thee ''	-
And now he seemed to fold her in his arms	V4
And on the mouth to kiss her close to him	F
Surely her swimming eyes were dim with love
Her lips against him murmured tenderly	W4
And her cheek touched his own yet even now	T
Even as her bosom swelled within his arms	V4
As like the inmost richness of a rose	V4
Wounding the perfume of her soul breathed up	X2
An insupportable joy into his brain	F3
Even now alas faltering in ecstasy	W4
His arms were emptied back he sank despair	L
Drowned him upon his sense the darkness closed	Z2
And with a cry lost in a cloud he fell	P2
	-
	-
Book II	A
Slumber these desolated senses guard	Z2
With silence interposed and dimness kind	Z2
While in tumultuous ebb joy and dismay	P2
Murmur re gathering their surge afar	V3
Idle thou liest Porphyrion and o'erthrown	F3
By violent bliss into a trance as deep
Yet even in thy trance thou takest vows	V4
Thou burnest with a dedicated fire	B4
And thou canst be no more what thou hast been	F3
A rebel thou wert in strong bonds who now	F3
Art chosen and consenting and prepared	Z2
Is all thy path that no more leads to peace	V4
But to repining fever pain so dear	X4
It will not be assuaged Awaiting thee	W4
Is all that Love of the deep heart requires	V4
The ecstasy the loss the hope the want	Z2
The prick of grief beneath the closed eyelid	Z2
Of him whom memory visits but not rest	Z2
The sweetness touched for ever perishing	K4
Out of the eager hands Invisibly	P2
Perhaps even now on thy unconscious cheek	G3
Thy Guide is gazing and to pity moved	Z2
He thy forgetful term gently extends	V4
	-
At last from heavily unclouding sleep
Porphyrion stirs dimly over his brain	F3
Returns the noon and opens wide his eyes	V4
Some moments by the veiling sense of use	V4
Delayed in wonder troubled he starts up	X2
Instantly he remembered and all changed	Z2
Appeared his cell the silence and the light	Z2
She whom his heart had need of was not there	L
And eager from his dwelling he came forth	U
If there were sign of her But all was still	P2
	-
Suspended over the forsaken land	Z2
The sun stood motionless and palsied Time	N
Helpless to urge his congregated hours	V4
Leaned heavy on the mountain the steep noon	F3
Had all the cool shade into fire devoured	Z2
Then quailed Porphyrion Lost was his new joy	W2
An apparition frail as a bright flame	N2
Seen in the sun irrevocably lost	Z2
The old thoughts that so long had sheltered him	F
The fear that presaging the heavy world	Z2
Makes wail the newborn child he now a man	F3
Thrice competent to suffer felt afresh	M3
To cruel truth re born a naked soul	P2
Now he had eyes to see and ears to hear	O4
And knew at last he was alone the sky	A
Absorbed he saw the earth with absent face	V4
The water murmuring only to the reeds	V4
Unconscious rock and sun contented sand	Z2
And even as within him keener rose	V4
Longing unloosed so much the heavier grew	B3
The intensity of solitude around	Z2
	-
Melancholy had planned her palace here	O4
Dead columns to support the burning sky	A
For living senses insupportable	P2
She made and ample barrenness wherein	F3
To ponder of defeated spirits quenched	Z2
Desire o'ertaken hope courage undone	F3
Implored oblivion and rejected joy	W2
Nor this alone but idleness so vast	Z2
As even the stormiest enterprise becalmed	Z2
Till it was trivial to advance one foot	Z2
Beyond the other rashness to provoke	N3
An echo where if ever man could laugh
Laughter had seemed the end of vanity	Z2
Were not a vanity more vain in tears	V4
For from the blown dust to the extremest hills	V4
Audible silence that sustained despair	L
A ceiling over all immovable	P2
Presided and the desert nourishing	K4
That silence listened jealous of a sound	Z2
Younger than her unageing solitude	Z2
The desert that was old when earth was young	O3
	-
Wailing into the silence that rang back	P3
A wounded cry to the unhearkening ear	O4
Of the austere ravines perhaps not strange	Z4
The youth in that vain region stood and cast	Z2
Hither and thither seeking his sad eyes	V4
Out of the dreadful light to his dim cell	P2
He fled for refuge Here he had possessed	Z2
Joy for a brief space here She looked on him	F
Here had her heart beat in her bosom close	V4
Against his own Her voice was in his ear	O4
And suddenly his soul was quieted	Z2
Surely the visitation of such spirits	V4
Comes not of chance he murmured but of truth	Q
Surely this was the shadow of some light	Z2
That shines the odour of some flower that blooms	V4
And far off mid the great world dwells in flesh	M3
That blissful spirit and bears a human name	N2
If she be far yet have I all my days	V4
For seeking and no other joy on earth	R
I will arise and seek her through the world	Z2
	-
With this resolve impassioned and inspired	Z2
His thoughts were bright and his hot bosom calmed	Z2
Sweet was it to behold that radiant goal	P2
Though far and hazardous and wide the way	P2
The greatness of his quest found answer in him	F
Of greatness and the thousand teasing cares	V4
That swarm upon perplexity flew off
Gladly against his journey he prepared	Z2
His pilgrim's need and laid him down and slept	Z2
And ere the dawn with scrip and staff arose	V4
	-
Now at his door irrevocably free	Z2
Before the unknown world spread dim and vast	Z2
He stood and pondered gazing forth which way	P2
To follow and what distant city or vale	P2
Held his desire but pondering he was drawn	F3
Forth by some secret impulse he obeyed	Z2
Not doubting toward the places of his youth	Q
He turned his face toward the high mountain slopes	V4
Of the dim west and Antioch and the sea	Z2
Up the long valley by the glimmering stream	C3
He went and over him the stars grew pale	P2
Cliffs upon either hand in darkness plunged	Z2
Built up a shadow but far off in front	Z2
Invaded by the first uncertain beam	C3
Mountain on mountain like a cloud arose	V4
He seemed ascending some old Titan stair	L
That led up to the sky by great degrees	V4
In the vast dawn he journeyed eagerly	Z2
Foot keeping pace with thought for his full heart	Z2
Tarried not but was with its happy goal	P2
One face one form one vision one desire	B4
	-
Due onward over the unending hills	V4
He held his way and the warm morning sprang
Behind him and a less impatient speed	Z2
Drove his feet onward In the midday heat	Z2
He rested weary and relaxing thought	Z2
Had leisure to perceive where he had come	T3
	-
Burning beneath the solitary noon	F3
All round him rose rock upon rock o'erhung
A fiery silence undefended now	F3
By clouding grief nor in illusion armed	Z2
He to the heavy lure all open lay	P2
That from this mortal desolation breathed	Z2
Out of his heart he sought to summon up	X2
The vision but it fled before his thought	Z2
Only the hot blank everywhere opposed	Z2
His spirit and the silent mountain wall	P2
Like one on whom the fear of blindness comes	V4
For whom the sun begins to fall from heaven	F3
And the ground darkens he rose up and fled	Z2
Grasping his staff and fearful now to pause	V4
In that death breathing region onward ran	F3
	-
Yet was not peril past He had not come	T3
Far when his agitated eyes beheld	Z2
Amid the uneven crumbling ground a stone	F3
Square hewn and edgeways fallen and he knew	B3
That he had come where men long since had been	F3
And as he lifted up his eyes all round	Z2
Were massy granite pillars half o'erthrown	F3
Propping the air and yellow marble shone	F3
Dimly inscribed fragments of maimed renown	F3
Over the ruined region he stole on	F3
Threading the interrupted clue of roads	V4
That led all to oblivion trenches choked	Z2
With weed and old mounds heaped on idle gold	Z2
And now Porphyrion paused inhaling fast	Z2
Odours of buried fame as in a dream	C3
All that remote dead city and her brisk streets	V4
Repeopled and for mountain battle armed	Z2
He apprehended The deep wave of time	N
Subsiding had disclosed englutted wrecks	V4
Which now so long slept idle that they seemed	Z2
To emulate the agelessness of earth	R
Did not the fondness of mortality	Z2
Still haunt them and a kind of youth forlorn	F3
As if the Desert their brief fable man	F3
Indulging from austerest indolence	V4
Forbore a just disdain Porphyrion	F3
With beating pulses and with running blood	Z2
Alone on ashes perishably breathed	Z2
As he who treads the uncertain lava fears	V4
Each moment that his rash foot may awaken	F3
Fire from beneath him from that sepulchre	B4
Of smouldering ages fearfully he fled	Z2
And sometimes he looked backward lest his feet	Z2
Startle a shadowy population up	X2
In the deserted sunlight faces stern	F3
Of fleshless kings to claim him for their own	F3
So frail appeared the heaving of his breath	H2
So brief his pace so idle his desire	B4
	-
At last beyond the scarred gray walls he came	N2
And gladly found the savage rock once more	B4
Beneath him nor yet dared to rest or pause	V4
But onward pressed over the winding sides	V4
Of pathless valleys where an echoing stream	C3
Ran far below and ridges desolate	Z2
He climbed and under precipices huge
And down the infinite spread slopes made way	P2
The eagle steering in the upper winds	V4
As balanced out of sight his eye surveyed	Z2
From white Palmyra to Damascus flushed	Z2
Among faint shining streams saw him afar	B4
Journey a shadow never wearying
From hour to hour until at last the hills	V4
Less steep opposed him toward the distant plains	V4
Declining in great uplands dimly rolled	Z2
Here were few stubborn trees by sunset now	F3
With sullen glory lighted rich till night	Z2
Rose in the east and hooded the bare world	Z2
	-
Porphyrion had ascended a last ridge
Of many and his eyes gazed out afar	B4
On boundless country darkening he lay down	F3
At last full weary the keen foreign air	B4
Filled his delighted nostril and his heart	Z2
Was soothed As on a troubled mere at night	Z2
Wind ceases and the gentle evening brings	V4
Beauty to that vext mirror and all fresh	M3
In perfect images the lost returns	V4
Serenely in his bosom rose anew	F3
The vision somewhere in that distant world	Z2
He mused is she and there is all my joy	W2
	-
But evening now before his gazing eyes	V4
Receded dim until the whole wide earth	R
Appeared a cloud Then in the gloom a dread	Z2
Came whispering and hope faltered in his breast	Z2
	-
O if the great world be but fantasy	V4
Raised by the deep enchantment of desire	B4
And melt before my coming like a cloud ''	-
Parleying with the ghost of fear yet still	P2
Cherishing his thought's treasure he resigned	Z2
His senses to the huge and empty night	Z2
When on the infinite horizon lo	P2
Sending a herald clearness upward stole	P2
Tranquil and vast over the world the moon	F3
	-
Delicately as when a sculptor charms	V4
The ignorant clay to liberate his dream	C3
Out of the yielding dark with subtle ray	P2
And imperceptible touch she moulded hill	P2
And valley beauteous undulation mild	Z2
Inlaid with silver estuary and stream	C3
Until her solid world created shines	V4
Before her and the hearts of men with peace	V4
That is not theirs disquiets peopled now	F3
Is her dominion she in far off towns	V4
Has lighted clear a long awaited lamp
For many a lover or set an end to toil	P2
Or terribly invokes the brazen lip
Of trumpets blown to Fate where men besieged	Z2
For desperate sally buckle their bright arms	V4
All these that the cheered wanderer on his height	Z2
In fancy sees the lover's secret kiss	V4
The mirth flushed faces thronging through the streets	V4
And ships upon the glimmering wave and flowers	V4
In sleeping gardens and encounters fierce	V4
And revellers with lifted cups and men	F3
In prison bowed that move not for their chains	V4
And sacred faces of the newly dead	Z2
All with a mystery of gentle light	Z2
She visits and in her deep charm includes	V4
	-
	-
Book III	A
Dawn in the ancient heavens over the earth	R
Shone up but in Porphyrion's bosom rose	V4
A brighter dawn the early ray that touched	Z2
His slumber woke the new unfathomed need	Z2
Fallen from radiant night into his soul	P2
That thirsted still for beauty for that joy	W2
Beyond possession ever flying far	B4
From our dim utterance beauty causing tears	V4
	-
He stretched his arms out to the golden sun	F3
His glorious kin impetuously glad	Z2
And with a rial morning journeyed on	F3
O'er valley and o'er hill The second dawn	F3
Found him far travelled over pastoral lands	V4
Where from the shepherds' lonely huts a smoke
Went up or some white shrine gleamed on a height	Z2
Soon the dark ranging and unchanging pines	V4
Yielded to ash and chestnut O how fair	B4
Their perishable leaf Porphyrion knew	F3
That some great city neared him and his pace	V4
Grew eager climbing a soft crested hill	P2
In expectation yet all unprepared	Z2
At last upon his eye the prospect broke
Dawning serene and endlessly unrolled	Z2
	-
There lay the city there embodied hope	C4
Rose to outmatch desire he cried aloud	Z2
Taken with joy so irresistible	P2
That he must seize a sapling by the stem
To uphold him and in ardent silence gazed	Z2
Solitary heaven strown with vast white clouds	V4
Moved toward him over the abounding land	Z2
A land of showers a land of quivering trees	V4
A land of youth lovely and full of sap
Upon whose border trembled the wide sea	V4
Young were the branches round him in fresh leaf
Luminously shaded the arriving winds	V4
Broke over him in soft a rial surge
For him the grass was glittering the far cloud	Z2
Loosened her faltering tresses of dim rain	F3
And broad Orontes interrupted shone	F3
But mid that radiant amphitheatre	B4
He saw but the far city thither ran	F3
His gaze and rested on her in a bloom	S4
Of distant air apparelled while his heart	Z2
Beat at the thought of what she held for him	F
Bright Antioch From the endless ocean wave
Gliding the sunbeam broke upon her towers	V4
A moment gleaming white then into shade	Z2
Withdrawn until she seemed a thing of breath	H2
Created fair from whose far roofs arose	V4
Soft like an exhalation human joy	W2
	-
Clear as a pool to plunge in seemed the world	Z2
This blissful morn to him that thither gazed	Z2
Wondering until unconscious tears were wet	Z2
Upon his flushing cheek while he sent forth	U
His eager thoughts flying to that sweet goal	P2
And conjuring wishes waved unknown delight	Z2
To come to him Already in dream arrived	Z2
Close to his ear the hum of those far streets	V4
He hears already sees the busy crowd	Z2
Pass and repass with laughter and with cries	V4
Meeting him children hand in hand from school	P2
Gleefully run and old men slow of step
Approach the mason pausing from his toil	P2
Under the plank's cool shadow looks at him	F
Or with a negligent wonder glancing down	F3
Beautiful faces oh perhaps the face	V4
That to his fate he follows through the world	Z2
That deepest hope too dear to muse upon	F3
A moment filled him with a thrilling light	Z2
And as a bird alighting on a reed	Z2
Sprung straight and slender from a lonely stream	C3
Some idle morning delicately sways	V4
The mirrored stem and sings for perfect joy	W2
So musical alighted young desire	B4
Upon his heart that trembled like the reed	Z2
	-
Down from that height over delicious grass	V4
Amid the rocks amid the trees he sped	Z2
The browsing sheep upstarted in the sun	F3
Scared by his coming he ran on and tore	B4
A fresh leaf in his mouth or sang aloud	Z2
Out of his happy heart such keen delight	Z2
His eye was treasuring that welcomed all	P2
The variable blooms in the high grass	V4
Borage and mullein and the rust red plume	S4
Of sorrel and the sprinkled daisies white	Z2
Even the sap in the young bough he felt	Z2
Reach warmly up to the inviting sun	F3
As if his own blood by the spring renewed	Z2
Were theirs and budding leaves within his breast	Z2
	-
At last ere he perceived it he was close	V4
Upon the city walls through shading boughs	V4
Across a valley they rose populous	V4
With crowding towers and roofs of distant hum	T3
Then in the midst of joy he was afraid	Z2
So close to him the richness he desired	Z2
Dismayed his spirit that to doubt and fear	B4
Recoiling fell Not yet will I go up	X2
He thought but when the dark comes I will go	P2
Even as his purpose was relaxed his limbs	V4
To sudden heaviness surrendered down	F3
He laid him in sweet grass beside a pool	P2
Under a chestnut opposite a grove	L4
Of cypress and at once sleep fell on him	F
Deep sleep that into dark unfathomed wells	V4
Plunges the spirit and with ignorance lost	Z2
Acquaints and inaccessible delight	Z2
And unborn beauty But meanwhile the noon	F3
Had ripened and grown pale in the soft sky
A gentle rain fell as the light declined	Z2
And the drops ceasing an unprisoned beam	C3
Out of a cloud flowed trembling o'er the grove	L4
And ran beside long shadows of the stems	V4
And lighted the dark underleaves and touched	Z2
The sleeper suddenly his cheek was warm	Z3
He stirred an arm and unrelaxing sighed	Z2
And now through crimsoned eyelids on his brain	F3
The full sun burned to wonder he awoke
Green over him in mystery o'erhung
Was dimness fluttered with a thousand rays	V4
Unfathomable green that living roof
A single stem upbore whose mighty swerve
Upward he followed till it branched abroad	Z2
In heaven and through the dark leaves shone remote	Z2
Smooth molten splendour the broad evening cloud	Z2
Porphyrion upon his elbow leaned	Z2
And hearkened for the trembling air was hushed	Z2
By hundred birds praising the peaceful light	Z2
Invisibly a wet drop from the leaf
Spilled glittering on his hand Then he reclined	Z2
Deep into joy absolved out of himself
The while the wind brought to him light attired	Z2
In fragrance and the breathing stillness seemed	Z2
Music asleep too lovely to be stirred	Z2
	-
As thus he drew into his pining heart	Z2
Such juices as make young the world and feed	Z2
The veins of spring as into one pure sense	V4
Embodied he was hearkening blissfully	V4
A sound came to him wonderful like pain	F3
With such a sweetness edged It was a voice	V4
A happy voice and toward it instantly	V4
The fibre of his flesh yearningly turned	Z2
Trembling as at a touch Then he arose	V4
Troubled he looked and in the grove beyond	Z2
That peaceful water lo a little band	Z2
Of youths and maidens under distant trees	V4
Departing one looked backward ere she went	Z2
And his heart cried within his breast awaked	Z2
Suddenly into blissful hope Alas	V4
With flutter of fair robes and mingled gay
Faint laughter down a bank out of his view	F3
They were all taken Pierced with sudden loss	V4
And kindled like a wild uncertain flame	N2
Into a hundred joyful wavering fears	V4
He gazed upon the empty grove the pool	P2
And the light brimming over on fresh grass	V4
And lonely stems but the bereaved bright scene	F3
No more rejoiced him Now to aid his wish
Swift night upon the fading west inclined	Z2
And he stole forward through the cypress gloom	S4
Toward Antioch Halting on a neighbour brow	F3
Afar off he beheld that company	V4
Even now under the dim gate entering in	F3
He followed and at last the darkened street	Z2
Received him wondering back among his kind	Z2
	-
Was ever haven like the dream of it	Z2
In peril or did ever feet attain	F3
Their goal but still a richer rose beyond	Z2
It was a festal night gay multitudes	V4
Came idly by and no man noted him	F
His seeking gaze hither and thither drawn	F3
Roamed in a mirror of desires amazed	Z2
And found yet wanted more than it could find	Z2
Beauty he felt around him brushing near	B4
And joy in others seen but all to him	F
Without the vision that his soul required	Z2
Was idle solitary was his heart	Z2
And full to breaking yet as wounds are dulled	Z2
To the frail sense he knew not yet his grief
For wonder clothed it through a veil he heard	Z2
And saw Thus wandering aimlessly he found	Z2
His feet upon a marble stair in face	V4
A porch rose issuing was a festal sound	Z2
That drew him onward out of the lone night	Z2
Halting upon the threshold he gazed in	F3
	-
Pillars in lovely parallel sustained	Z2
A roof of shadowed snow enkindled warm	Z3
From torches pedestalled in order bright	Z2
Amid whose brilliance at a banquet sat	Z2
Crowned with sweet garlands revellers and cups	V4
Lifted in laughing boisterous pledge or gazed	Z2
Earnest in joy on their proud paramours	V4
Pages with noiseless tripping feet had borne	F3
The feast aside and now the brimming wine	F3
From frosted flagons blushed and the spread board	Z2
Showed the soft cheek of apricot or glory	V4
Of orange burning from a dusk of leaves	V4
Cloven pomegranates brimmed with ruby cells	V4
Great melons purpling to the frosty core	B4
And mountain strawberries Beyond less bright	Z2
Was hung mysterious magnificence	V4
Of tapestry where with ever moving feet	Z2
A golden Triumph followed banners waved	Z2
O'er captive arms and slender trumpets blew	F3
To herald a calm hero charioted	Z2
Just when a music melted from above
Over the feasters flowed and softly fixed	Z2
The listening gaze and stilled the idle hand	Z2
Porphyrion entered all those faces flushed	Z2
Lights flowers and laughter and the trembling wine	F3
And hushing melody and happy fume	S4
Of the clear torches burning Indian balm	N4
Clouded his brain with sweetness like a waft	Z2
Of perished youth returned those wonders held	Z2
His eyes yet were as things he might not touch
And if he stretched his hand out they would fade	Z2
	-
Then he remembered whom he sought A pang
Disturbed him eager with bright eyes inspired	Z2
Through those that would have stayed his feet he stole	P2
Nearer to bliss They all regarded him	F
Astonished in their joyful throng he seemed	Z2
An apparition darkly the long hair	B4
Hung on his shoulders and his form was frail	P2
Some cried then all were silent a strange want	Z2
Woke in their sated breasts and wonder dread	Z2
Troubled them whence had come and what required	Z2
This messenger unknown But he passed on	F3
And in each woman's face with questioning gaze	V4
Dazzled by nearer splendour looked and sought	Z2
Doubtful Already one whose arm was laid	Z2
Around the shoulder of her paramour	B4
Stayed him so deep into his heart she looked	Z2
Biting her pearly necklace in her robe	M2
Was moonlight shivering over purple seas	V4
Encountering their spirits parleyed then	F3
Unwillingly he drew his eyes away
Another clothed as in the fiery bloom	S4
Of cloud at evening changing o'er the sun	F3
Backward reclining under lids half closed	Z2
Gazed and a moment held him at her feet	Z2
Until at last one turned and dazzled him	F
Of whose attire he knew not so her face	V4
With sun like glory drew him he approached	Z2
And she presiding beauteous and adored	Z2
Queen of that perfumed feast beckoned him on	F3
Her bosom heaved the music from her ears	V4
Faded and from her sated sense the glow	P2
Of empty mirth far lovelier were in him	F
Sorrow and youth and wonder and desire	B4
Forward she leaned and showed a vacant place	V4
By her and he came near and sat him down	F3
Charm stricken also whispering Art thou she	V4
She said no word but to his shining eyes	V4
Answered and of the red pomegranate fruit	Z2
Gave him to eat and golden wine to drink
And with pale honeyed roses crowned his hair	B4
All marvelled and with murmur looked on him	F
As high exalted over realms of joy	W2
He sat in glory and sweet incense breathed	Z2
Of that dominion riches in a cloud	Z2
Descending and before his feet prepared	Z2
The world in bloom and in his eyes the dream	C3
Of destiny excelled and rushing thoughts	V4
Radiant and beauty by his side enthroned	Z2
	-
	-
Book IV
Love the sweet nourishing sun of human kind	Z2
Who with unquenchable fire inhabitest	Z2
Worlds that would fall into that happy death	H2
Out of their course were not their course so fixt	Z2
Who from the dark soil drawest up the plant	Z2
And the sweet leaves out of the naked tree	V4
Whose ardent air to taste and to enjoy	W2
All flesh desire even of bitter pangs	V4
Enamoured so that this intenser breath	H2
They breathe and one victorious moment taste	Z2
Life perfect over Fate and Time empowered	Z2
Leave him not desolate Love who to thy glory	V4
Is dedicated and for thee endures	V4
To look upon the dreadful grave of joy	W2
Knowing the lost is lost comfort him now	F3
Thy votary who by the pale sea shore	B4
In the young dawn paces uncomforted	Z2
Ah might not sweet embraces have assuaged	Z2
The fever which had burnt him honeyed mouth
And the close girdle of voluptuous arms	V4
Nor dimly fragrant hair have curtained him	F
From memory Alas too new he came	N2
From love too recent from that ecstasy	V4
And memory mocked him under the cold stars	V4
With finished yet untasted pleasure sad	Z2
	-
Flying that fragrant lure unhappy soul	P2
By the dark shore he paces and his eyes	V4
The dawn delights not far off in the east	Z2
Discovering the sleeping world and men	F3
To all their tasks arousing while she strews	V4
Neglected roses on the unchanging hills	V4
And over the dim earth and wave unfolds	V4
Beauty but not the beauty he desires	V4
To her to her who in the desert touched	Z2
His spirit and unsealed his eyes and showed	Z2
Above a new earth a new sun and brought	Z2
His steps forth to this perilous rich world	Z2
Stirred with ineffable deep longing now	F3
He turned ev'n to behold her from afar	B4
To touch the hem of her apparel seemed	Z2
Sweeter ten thousandfold than absolute	Z2
Taste and possession of a lesser charm
	-
Where art thou '' cried he Ah dost thou behold	Z2
My desolation and not come to me	V4
O ere my sick heart all delight refuse	V4
Return appear Or say in what far land	Z2
Thou lingerest that I may seek thee out	Z2
And find thee without whom I have no peace	V4
Nor joy but wander aimless in a path
Barren and undetermined o'er the world	Z2
Wilt not thou make thy voice upon the wind	Z2
Float hither or in dew thy secret breathe
To answer my entreaty '' The still shore	B4
Was echoless unanswered that sad cry	B4
Warm on the wave the Syrian morning stole	P2
Out of suspended hazes the smooth sea	V4
Swelled into brilliance and subsiding hushed	Z2
The lonely shore with music such a calm	N4
As vexes the full heart inviting it	Z2
Flattered with sighing pause Porphyrion's ear	B4
The sea hungered his spirit he could not lift	Z2
His eyes from the arriving splendour calm	N4
Of those broad waters to their solemn chime	N
Setting his grief and gradually vast	Z2
His longing opened to horizons wide	Z2
As the round ocean deep as the deep sea	V4
His heart and the unbounded earth his road	Z2
	-
That inward stream and dark necessity	V4
Which drives us onward in the way of Time	N
Moved his uncertain hesitating soul	P2
Into its old course and his feet set firm
To tread their due path seeking over earth	R
The Wonder that made idle all things else	V4
He raised his brow inhaling the wide air	B4
And the wind rose and his resolve was set	Z2
	-
Broad on the morrow hoisting to the sun	F3
Her sail a ship out of the harbour stands	V4
Bearing Porphyrion fervent to renew	F3
His lonely pilgrimage to fate his way
Committed and to guiding beams of heaven	F3
And careless whither bound so the remote	Z2
Irradiated circle ever fresh	M3
Glittering into infinity lead on	F3
	-
Soon the bright water and keen kiss of the air	B4
His clouded courage cleared uprising wind	Z2
Swelled the resisting sail and the prow felt	Z2
The supple press of water cleaving it	Z2
And the foam flashed and murmured hope again	F3
Rose tremulous to that music's buoyant note	Z2
Day pursued day on the blue deep and shores	V4
Sprang up and faded still his gaze was cast	Z2
Forward and followed that undying dream	C3
	-
Standing at last above a harbour strange	Z4
Inland he bent ever with questioning heart	Z2
Expectant and through wilderness and town	F3
Journeyed all summer nor could autumn tame	N2
That urging fire nor mid the gliding leaves	V4
Of bare December could hope fall from him	F
	-
Ever a stranger roamed he nor had thought	Z2
To seek a home for him this vast desire	B4
Was home that fed his spirit and sheltered him	F
From care and time and the perplexing world	Z2
For not beside an earthly hearth he deemed	Z2
To find her moving whom he sought though fair	B4
With human limbs and clothed in lovely flesh	M3
Rather some visitation swift and strange	Z4
His soul awaited When at evening's end	Z2
He rested and each fostered secret wish
Rose trembling when the dewy yellow moon	F3
Slowly on cypress gardens poured her light	Z2
And from the flowery gloom and whispering
Of leaves a hundred odours had released	Z2
Dimly he knew that she was wandering near	B4
A blissful presence scarce beyond the marge
Of his veiled senses in a world of beams	V4
Or journeying through the wild forest he saw	V4
Her passing robe pale mid the shadowy stems	V4
A moment shine before his quickened steps	V4
To leave him in the deep forsaken gloom	S4
Pining with throbbing breast and desolate eyes	V4
And once in the thronged market at hot noon	F3
Heard his name spoken and looked round on air	B4
	-
So visited so haunted he was led	Z2
Onward through many a city of the plain	F3
Till vaster grew the silence and far off
The noise of men and he began to climb	N
Pastoral hills that into mountains rose	V4
Skyward with shelving ridges sloped between	F3
Long days apart And as he wound his way
Thither from crested town to town he heard	Z2
Rumours of war all round him men in arms	V4
Saw glittering in winding files and waved	Z2
Banners and trumpets blown But all to him	F
Was distant borne from a far alien world	Z2
Where men in ignorant vain deeds embroiled	Z2
Lost the treasure of earth and all their soul	P2
Onward he kept his course nor recked of them
Riding the solitary forest ways	V4
	-
And now again it was the time of birth	R
When the young year arises in the woods	V4
From sleep and tender leaves and the first flower	B4
Old thoughts were stirring in Porphyrion's breast	Z2
And old desires like old wounds flowed anew	F3
It was that hour of hesitating spring
When with expanded buds and widened heaven	F3
The heart swells into sadness wanting joy	W2
More ample and unnumbered longings reach	G4
Into a void as tendrils into air	B4
O now as never seemed he to have need	Z2
Of his beloved to be with her at last	Z2
To see her and embrace her with his arms	V4
And in her bosom find perpetual peace	V4
Scarcely aware of the bright leaves around	Z2
His path and heedless of his way he rode	Z2
With bridle slack and forward absent eyes	V4
When piercing his deep dream a groaning cry	B4
Smote on him he stayed still and from his horse	V4
Dismounted and the rough briar pushed aside	Z2
	-
Hard by the path amid the trodden grass	V4
And bloody brambles lay a wounded man	F3
	-
Friend fetch me water '' groaned he for I die	B4
The spring is near and I have crawled thus far	B4
But get no farther struggle how I may ''	-
Quickly Porphyrion ran to where the spring
Gushed bubbling and fetched water and came back
The dying man drank deep and having drunk
Half rose upon his arm and eager asked	Z2
	-
How went the battle have we won or lost	Z2
I know not whether thou be friend or foe
But quick tell me I faint '' What sayest thou	F3
Of battles '' said Porphyrion I know not	Z2
Of what thou speakest and I fight for none ''	-
	-
Faintly the other with upbraiding eyes	V4
Regarding him made answer Art thou young
And is the blood warm in thy body and yet	Z2
Thou wanderest idle But perhaps thy hand	Z2
Knows not the sword nor thou the ways of men ''	-
	-
Then kindled at his heart Porphyrion spoke
I have no need of fighting yet my hand	Z2
Knows the sword and my youth was trained in arms ''	-
	-
Take then this blade and bind my armour on	F3
For over yonder hill I think even now	F3
They fight there is our camp ah bid them come	T3
And bury Orophernes where he fell ''	-
	-
Even with the word he sank back and expired	Z2
Youthful amid the soft green leaves of spring
That over his pale cheek and purple lips	V4
Waved shadowing Nearer than his inmost thought	Z2
Was then the silence to Porphyrion's heart	Z2
As heavily he rode bearing the sword	Z2
For token and the helmet on his brows	V4
He sought for his old thoughts and found them not	Z2
Even as when the sudden thunder breaks	V4
A brooding sky and the air chills and strange	Z4
The altered landscape shines in a cold light	Z2
And they that loitered hasten on and oft	Z2
Shiver in the untimely falling eve
So now on this irruption of the world	Z2
Followed a sadness and his thoughts were changed	Z2
And yearning chilled How idle seemed his hope	C4
How infinite his quest Before his mind	Z2
Life spread deserted vacant as a mist	Z2
	-
So mournful rode he when beyond a hill	P2
Whose height with hanging forest interposed	Z2
Shut off the sun he came into the light	Z2
Over against a valley broad that sloped	Z2
Before him and at once burst on him full	P2
All the glory of war and sounding arms	V4
He thought no more but gazed and gazed again	F3
	-
Dark in the middle of the plain beneath
An army moved against a city towered	Z2
Upon a distant eminence even now	F3
From the gate issued troops with others joined	Z2
New come to aid them and together ranked	Z2
Stood to encounter stern the foes' assault	Z2
These upon either wing had clouded horse	V4
In squadrons chafing like a river curbed	Z2
By the firm wind that meets it crest and hoof
Shone restless as the white wind thwarted waves	V4
	-
Lonely and loud a sudden trumpet blew	F3
And fierce a score of brazen throats replied	Z2
The sound redoubled in Porphyrion's soul	P2
And forward drew him he remembered now	F3
His errand In that instant the ripe war	B4
Broke like a tempest the great squadrons loosed	Z2
Shot forward glittering like a splendid wave
That rises out of shapeless gloom a form	Z3
Massy with dancing crest threatening and huge
And effortlessly irresistible	P2
Bursts on the black rocks turbulently abroad	Z2
Falling and roaring and re echoing far	B4
So rushed that ordered fury of steeds and spears	V4
Under an arch of arrows hailing dark
Against the stubborn foe they from the slope	C4
Swept onward opposite with clang as fierce	V4
Afar pale women from the wall looked down	F3
	-
Porphyrion saw he was a spirit changed	Z2
He hearkened not to memory hope or fear	B4
But cast them from him violently and swift	Z2
To fuse in this fierce impulse all regret	Z2
To woo annihilation or to plunge
At least in fiery action his unused	Z2
Vain life and in that burning furnace melt	Z2
The idle vessel and re mould it new	F3
Spurred his horse on into the very midst	Z2
And loud the streaming battle swallowed him	F
	-
Just on that instant when the meeting shock
Tumultuously clashed and cries were mixt	Z2
With glitter of blades whirled like spirted spray
He came and as the thundering ranks recoiled	Z2
They saw him solitary flushed and young
A radiant ghost in the dead hero's arms	V4
	-
Amazement smote them in that pause he rode	Z2
Forward and shouting Orophernes' name	N2
Jubilant the swayed host came after him	F
Iron on iron gnashed Porphyrion smote	Z2
Unwearied the bright peril stilled his brain	F3
The terrible joy inspired him by his side	Z2
Vaunting young men over their ready graves	V4
Were rushing glorious many as they rushed	Z2
Drank violent draughts of darkness unawares	V4
And swiftly fell but he uninjured fought	Z2
Easily as men conquer in a dream	C3
He passed through splintered spears opposing shields	V4
And shouting faces and wild cries and blood	Z2
Till now a hedge of battle bristling sprang
All round him and no way appeared and dark
This way and that the rocking weight of war	B4
Swung heavy shields and lances interclasped	Z2
	-
He in his heart felt hungrier the flame	N2
Burning for desolation and he flushed	Z2
Sanguine of death the sudden starting blood	Z2
Inflamed him drunk as with a mighty wine	F3
And on an instant terror from the air	B4
Upon the foemen fell from heart to heart	Z2
As in mysterious mirrors flashed afar	B4
Triumphing cries rose all at once and death	H2
Shone dazzling in their eyes and they were lost	Z2
	-
Then on them rushed the victors glorying
Shaken abroad the battle fiercely flowed	Z2
Wild scattering sudden as quicksilver stream	C3
Spilled in a thousand drops the electric air	B4
Pulsed with the vehemence of strong bodies hurled	Z2
In mad pursuit till yielding or in flight	Z2
Or fallen the defeated armies ran	F3
Broken and on the wall the women wailed	Z2
	-
Then to their camp the victors came and all	P2
Followed Porphyrion wondering and acclaimed	Z2
His triumph he in an exultant dream	C3
Still moved and had no thought but from the lips	V4
Of bearded captains as around their fires	V4
That night they told of old heroic deeds	V4
Heard his own praise and feasted and afar	B4
Drank like an ocean wind the air of fame	N2
	-
	-
Book V	V4
Meanwhile in the surrendered city night	Z2
Went heavy not in feasting nor in sleep
Proud in submission were those stubborn hearts	V4
And nursed through darkness thoughts of far revenge
Mixt with the glory of their courage vain	F3
And now as the first beam revisited	Z2
Their sorrow and to each his neighbour's face	V4
Disclosed they stood at leisure to perceive
How grimly famine on their limbs had wrought	Z2
And on their wasted cheeks and temples worn	F3
And from their eyes shone desolated fire	B4
Inflexible resolve unstrung in the end	Z2
They saw the sentinels with haughty pace	V4
Trample the thresholds of their homes and watched	Z2
In melancholy indolence all day	Z2
Soldiers upon their errands come and go
	-
At evening afar off a bugle blew	F3
Sounding humiliation and despair	B4
To them but triumph to their conquering foes	V4
Who now in bright magnificence arrayed	Z2
Their hosts to enter the dejected walls	V4
Feigning indifference each man to his door	B4
Came forth beneath the battlemented arch
Too soon detested ensign and proud plume	S4
They saw the broad flag streaming to the air	B4
Fresh flowered purples like a summer field	Z2
The trumpets blown the thousand upright spears	V4
Shining and drums and ordered trampling feet	Z2
	-
But in the van of these battalions stern	F3
All wondered to behold a single youth	Q
Riding unhelmeted with ardent mien	F3
And all about him casting his bright eyes	V4
Up through the thronged street triumphing he rode	Z2
But as he passed his radiant look that seemed	Z2
From some far glory to have taken light	Z2
Shining among dark faces suffered change	Z4
Nothing on either side but hate or woe
Defiant or averted sullen youth	Q
And wasted age all misery smote his gaze	V4
As the sun's splendour leaves a mountain peak
Sinking into the west and ashy pale	P2
Leaves it the sadder from that former glow
So from Porphyrion's face the glory ebbed	Z2
His eye grew dim and pain altered his brow	F3
	-
At last that conquering army with the night	Z2
Possessed the city and a hum arose	V4
Like busy noise of settling bees and fires	V4
Kindled shed broad into the gloom a blaze	V4
And there were sounds of feasting and loud mirth	R
And riot late until by slow degrees	V4
Returned darkness and silence and all slept	Z2
	-
Only Porphyrion slept not on his bed	Z2
Turning from lamentable thoughts in vain	F3
He lay But in that stillest hour when first	Z2
Stars fade and mist arises and air chills	V4
Quite wearied out with toil and war within	F3
Slumber at length fell on him but not peace	V4
Scarce had he wandered in the ways of sleep
Some moments when before his feet appeared	Z2
Solemn and in the bright attire of dreams	V4
She whom his waking soul so many days	V4
So many months had followed still in vain	F3
His dearest unattainable desire	B4
But now she looked into his face and saw	V4
His grief and met him with reproachful eyes	V4
	-
What dost thou here Porphyrion '' Her grave voice	V4
Was musical with sorrow Faintest thou	F3
In seeking me thy joy tired of the way	Z2
Because the hour is not yet come to find	Z2
Dost thou forget what in thy desert cell	P2
I warned thee to be perilous on thy path
Luring of loud distraction and delay	Z2
The vastness of the world and thy frail heart	Z2
Seek on faint not prove all things till thou find	Z2
And still take comfort where thou art I am ''	-
	-
Her voice that trembled in the dreamer's soul	P2
From some celestial distance like a breeze	V4
Ended the brightness went and he awoke
And lo the placid colours of the dawn	F3
Were stealing in he rose and came without	Z2
	-
Ah now sweet vision O my perfect light	Z2
I come to thee my love my only truth	Q
It was not I but some false clouding self
That fell bewildered in this erring way	Z2
Or an oblivion rose from underground	Z2
To blind me but this place of grief and blood	Z2
I leave to follow thee for evermore	B4
	-
Full of this fervent prayer through the dim street	Z2
He went the stillness hearkened at his heels	V4
Now as he passed in chilly waftings fresh	M3
He scented the far morning the blue night	Z2
Thinned and all pale things were disclosed and now	F3
Even in his earnest pace he could not choose	V4
But pause a moment for all round he saw	V4
Faces and forms lying in shadowy sleep
Within dark porches and by sheltering walls	V4
And under giant temple colonnades	V4
Utterly wearied Some in armour lay	Z2
Dewy with forehead upturned to the dawn	F3
And some against a pillar leaned with hands	V4
Open and head thrown back an ancient pair	B4
With fingers clasping slumbered by whose side	Z2
A bearded warrior moved in his dark dream	C3
Exclaiming fiercely and a mother pressed	Z2
Her baby closer even in her sleep
He gazed upon them by a charm detained	Z2
For heavy over all their slumber weighed	Z2
And if one lifted voice or arm it was	V4
As plants that in deep water idly stir	B4
And then are still so these bodies entranced	Z2
Lay under soft oblivion deeply drowned	Z2
But as they slept the light stole over them
By pale degrees and each unconscious soul	P2
Yielded his secret with the hues of dawn	F3
Into that calm of faces floated up	X2
Out of their living and profound abyss	V4
What thoughts what dreams what terrors what dumb wails	V4
What gleams of ever burning funeral fires	V4
On haunted deserts where delight had been	F3
	-
Glories and dying memories and desires	V4
What sighs that like a piercing odour rose	V4
From the long pain of love what beauty strange	Z4
Of joy and sweetness unreleased and strength
Fatally strong to bear immortal woe
And anguish darkly sepulchred in peace	V4
	-
Porphyrion gazed and as he gazed he wept	Z2
For he beheld how in those spirits frail	P2
Slept also passions mightier than themselves	V4
Waiting to rend and toss them tiger thoughts	V4
Ecstasies hungers and disastrous loves	V4
Violent as storms that sleep under the wave
Vast longings cruelly in flesh confined	Z2
And wrecking winds of madness and of doom	S4
He trembled yet as knowledge even of things	V4
Terrible hath power to calm and to sustain	F3
His soul endured that truth and to its depth
Feared not to plunge Now he began to love
And to be sorrowful with a new sorrow
	-
What have I done '' he sighed what have I lost	Z2
My brothers that I have no part in you	F3
Yet am I of your flesh and you of mine	F3
Sleep for this hour hath separated you	F3
From one another but from me for ever	B4
O that I could delay with you and bear	B4
Your lot or with enchanting wand have power	B4
To raise you out of slumber into peace	V4
To be entwined and rooted in that life
Which brings you want of one another pain	F3
Borne not alone and all that human joy	W2
How sweet it were to me O you of whom	S4
When you awaken others will have need	Z2
I envy you those trusting eyes and hands	V4
Put forth for help I envy all your grief
But I am all made of untimeless	V4
Necessity drives on my soul to pass	V4
Another way my errand is not here	B4
Farewell farewell O happy troubled hearts ''	-
	-
As a blind man who feels around him move
The blest who see and fancies them embraced	Z2
Or feasting in each other's joyous eyes	V4
With such deep envy often he turned back
Even as he went to those unconscious forms	V4
That slumbered But his spirit urged him on	F3
With kindled heart and quickened feet and now	F3
He neared the shadow of the city gate	Z2
And saw the mountains rise beyond far off
	-
With longing he drew in the freshened air	B4
But even at that moment he perceived	Z2
Standing before a doorway in the dawn	F3
A solitary woman motionless	V4
As cloud at evening piled in the pale east	Z2
After retreating thunder like the ash
Of a spent flame her cheek and in her eyes	V4
Deep gazing a great anguish lay becalmed	Z2
Coldly she looked on him and calmly spoke
In marble accent Enter and behold	Z2
What thou hast done '' He would have passed due on	F3
Following his way resolved but like a charm
Beautiful sorrow in this grave regard	Z2
Drew him aside He entered and beheld	Z2
	-
Upon a bed unstirring and supine	F3
Lay an old man so old that the live breath	H2
Seemed rather hovering over him than warm	Z3
Within his placid limbs yet had he strapped	Z2
Ancient armour upon him and unused	Z2
A heavy sword lay by him on the ground	Z2
Dim was the room a table in the midst	Z2
Stood empty in the whole house all was bare	B4
	-
Now when Porphyrion entered and with him	F
The woman the old man nothing perceived	Z2
But at the sound a boy that by the wall	P2
Was leaning opened wide his painful eyes	V4
Porphyrion with accusing heart beheld	Z2
Then to the woman turning of their story	V4
He questioned quietly she answered him	F
	-
We were four souls under a happy roof
Until your armies came Then was our need	Z2
More cruel every day When first our meat	Z2
Grew scarce we sat with feigning eyes and each	G4
The other shunned I know not who thou art	Z2
But if thou takest pity upon pain	F3
I pray that no necessity bring thee	V4
Hunger more dear than love With me it was	V4
So that I dared not look upon my child	Z2
Lest I should grudge him eat To my old father	B4
Whom age makes helpless as a child my breast	Z2
As to a child I gave and I have stood	Z2
Under the trees and cursed them that so slow
They budded for our want the buds we tore	B4
Ere they could grow to leaf So passed our days	V4
But worse the nights were when sleep would not come	T3
For hunger and the dreadful morn seemed sweet	Z2
And if thou wonder that I weep not now	F3
Recounting them it is that I have borne	F3
What carries beyond grief '' She in her tale	P2
Spoke nothing of her husband he lay cold	Z2
Without the city fallen but as now	F3
She ended the returning thought of him	F
Absented her sad eyes And suddenly	V4
Her heart of a strange tenderness aware	B4
Out of its heavy frost was melted then	F3
She bowed her head and she let forth her tears	V4
	-
You that have known that bitter wound of all	P2
The bitterest since no courage brings it balm	N4
When silent all the misery of the world	Z2
Knocks at your door and you have empty hands	V4
You know what dart entered Porphyrion's breast	Z2
As he beheld and heard But now the boy	W2
Turning with restless body and parched lip
Sighed Give me water I am so thirsty mother	B4
I cannot fetch the breath into my throat ''	-
	-
Porphyrion filled a cup and gave to him	F
Deeply he drank closing his eyes as bliss	V4
Were in the cold fresh drops unwillingly	V4
His fingers from the cup relaxed and now	F3
The mother spoke Yesterday on the walls	V4
One of your arrows smote him and the wound	Z2
Torments him If thou wilt make water warm	Z3
I pray thee and bind up his cruel hurt	Z2
Afresh for my hand trembles I am weak ''	-
	-
So he made water warm and washed the wound	Z2
With careful tender hands and ointment soft	Z2
Laid on and in sweet linen bound it up	X2
Comforted then the boy put round his neck
One arm and sighing thanks as a child will	P2
With faltering hand caressed him That fond touch
Porphyrion endured not Are men born	F3
So apt to misery thought he that even this	V4
Is worthy thanks Yet his wrought heart attained	Z2
Even in such slender spending of its love
A little ease Now said he I must go
I must not longer tarry for she calls	V4
Whom I am vowed to follow and to find	Z2
But when he looked upon those three they seemed	Z2
To need him in their helplessness the child	Z2
Divining mutely prayed him he resolved	Z2
For that day to remain and then to go
	-
So all that day he tended them and went	Z2
Abroad into the town and brought them food	Z2
Bartering his share of spoil for meat and bread	Z2
And freshest fruit and delicatest wine	F3
Nor marked he as he went the frowning eyes	V4
Of the stern soldiers how they stood and watched	Z2
Murmuring together sullen and askance	V4
	-
As in a slumbering great city snow
With gentle foot comes muffling empty ways	V4
Corners and alleys and to the tardy dawn	F3
Faint the murmur of toil ascends and dumb	T3
The wheels roll and the many feet go hushed	Z2
So on his mind lay sorrow hum of arms	V4
And voices all were soft to him and strange	Z4
	-
Day passed and evening fell and in that house	V4
All slept and once again he would renew	F3
His journey but once more his heart perplexed	Z2
Smote him to leave them so They have no friend	Z2
He said and who will tend them if not I	B4
The next day he abode and with fond care	B4
Ministered to their need and still the next	Z2
Found him delaying and his own dim pain	F3
Solacing sweetly for the old man now	F3
By faint degrees returned to healthful warmth
And grave with open eyes serenely looked	Z2
In a mild wonder on this unknown friend	Z2
The mother taxed no longer to endure	B4
Even to her utmost strength permitted calm	N4
To her worn spirit and her wasted limbs	V4
Resigned into a happy weariness	V4
And the child's hurt began to be appeased	Z2
	-
On the fourth morn Porphyrion arose	V4
And saw them all still laid in peaceful sleep
Now said he will I go upon my quest	Z2
Less troubled they have need of me no more	B4
He turned to go but in the early light	Z2
Still looked upon them and his heart was full	P2
And softly he unbarred the door and seemed	Z2
Within his soul to see the whole great world	Z2
Await his coming and its wounded breast	Z2
Disclose and all life radiantly unroll	P2
Her riches opening to an endless end	Z2
	-
Filled with the power of that impassioned thought	Z2
Into the silence of the morning sun	F3
He came and on a sudden was aware	B4
Of men about the entrance thronged they set	Z2
Their bright spears forward and his path opposed	Z2
Astonished he looked on them and perceived	Z2
The faces of those warriors he had brought	Z2
Thither exulting and in victory led	Z2
Yet on their faces he beheld his doom	S4
He stood in that great moment greatly calm	N4
Proudly confronting them and cried aloud	Z2
	-
What murmur you against me I for you	F3
Fought and you triumphed Have I asked of one	F3
A single boon Soldiers will you take arms	V4
Against your captain Men will you dare to strike
A man unarmed You answer not a word	Z2
Put up your swords for now I will pass on	F3
To my own work and as I came will go ''	-
	-
There was a stillness as he ceased and none	F3
Answered but none gave way As when in heaven	F3
Clouds curdle and the heavy thunder holds	V4
All things in stupor hushed they stood constrained	Z2
Menacing and mistrustful and their hearts	V4
Grew cruel the uncomprehended light	Z2
That in Porphyrion shone and flushed his brow	F3
With radiance like the bright ambassador	B4
Come from an unknown power tormented them
And dark enchanting terror drove them on	F3
Then one by stealth an arrow to his bow	F3
Fitted and strung and drew it and the shaft	Z2
Beside Porphyrion in the lintel stuck
Quivering and at once they fiercely cried	Z2
Like the loud drop that loosens the pent storm	Z3
That loosened arrow drew tempestuous hail	P2
From every bow they lusted after blood	Z2
And put far from them pity and he fell	P2
Before them Yet astonished and dismayed	Z2
Those sacrificers saw the victim smile	P2
Triumphing and incredulous of death	H2
Even in anguish pang upon fresh pang
Rekindled the lost light the perished bloom	S4
Of memory and he was lifted far	B4
In exaltation above death he drank
Wine at the banquet and the stormy thrill	P2
Of battle caught him and he knew again	F3
The dart of love and the sweet wound of grief
In one transfigured instant that illumed	Z2
And pierced him as the arrows pierced his side	Z2
Then mingling all those bright beams into one	F3
Full glory dawned upon his dying sense	V4
She whom his feet followed through all the world	Z2
Out of the waste and over perilous paths	V4
Dearer than breath and lovelier than desire	B4
Like the first kiss of love recovered new	F3
Was the undreamed of joy that he in death	H2
With the last ecstasy of living found	Z2
Tasted and touched as she embraced his soul	P2
Then the world perished stretching forth his arms	V4
Into the unknown vastness eagerly	P2
He went and like a bridegroom to his bride	Z2

Robert Laurence Binyon

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