They sate them on a fallen column, where 26T →
The wild acanthus clombe the shattered stone,
Mocking its sculptured mimicry which there

Was graven on the pillar'd pomp o'erthrown; rac) And in its deathless, but unflowering green,. 135

Typing the' immortal wrecks—and barren pride of scene!
There seemed nought living near them; Zoe's arm T “
Was round her lover-and her cheek was prest
Upon his shoulder-Oh! the thrilling charm
Of that dependence-when we feel the breast,

On which we lean, bounds all the heart and hope, yo! Which till that breast was found-thought worlds too

"And tell me, feel'st thou not our lone retreat, "Drink from our love an ether of delight? "And tell me, if like mine thy heart hath beat. 70 15 0 "Thro' the long-dull day, with one wish for night?g »H "Night-most beloved night, that marks us meetod onl "Alas! alas! that we should ever part!"

"And wherefore should we? Are we not become

"Each to the other, all beneath the skies ?

"My heart flies to thy presence, as its home, aut "And sleeps beneath the shadow of thine eyes!

"Wherefore, my Zoe?--Thou art to my sight
"Not as a dream, but as the soul of dreams,
"Their essence, life, and immortality!

"The focus of the wild and scattered beams,
"That woke the Memnon of my minstrelsy
"Rome left, I leave not thee !-but if too soon
"Compell'd, I wander backward to my doom,
"Thou, as yon star clings ever through the gloom,
"Fast by the pathway of the pilgrim moon,-
"Thou wilt still shine, unsevered by my side,
66 My star of faith and love, my blessing and

my bride!"

She answered not, but trembled; and he raised
Fondly her downcast cheek-the rose was fled,
And like a mourner o'er it, in the stead,

Sate paleness there, and droop'd—the tender eyes
That shunning, met his own, were wet with tears;
And that subdued and stricken thought, which wears
Woe as a nun, the hope-entombing veil,
Silent and self-consuming, cast its gloom

O'er her still features, and their touching bloom!
He gazed, and felt within him as he gazed
The bold and haughty spirit sink and quail—
As if the omen of no idle fears

Crept to his heart, and with a voice of bale,

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Spoke of his baffled youth his manhood's loveless years!

"Thou dost not answer, Zoe;-can it be

"That I have lov'd too wildly?-true, that ne'er

"Hast thou reveal'd thy birth, thyself, to me;

"But hast been worshipp'd in my heart and prayer

Unknown, and glorious, like a mystic light,

"Or dim-seen future, to my soul prefated;

"Or shape, that in the weird and passionate night, "I won some heavenly magic, and created!

"But now, Love, let me lure thee from thy shade, My bright Egeria-be a mortal maid,

66

"Lift the all-idle mystery from my heart—

"And tell me, fairest, what and whence thou art!"

Eager his eye, and anxious was his tone,

And the half smile that o'er his features shed
A moment's hurried brightness wan'd and fled,
As ceased his words.

She with a tender look,

Made soft by sadness, and a silent fear,

And with a voice, which summon'd from its throne
The charmed heart unto the haunted ear,

After a pause replied:

"I will not brook

"Mine own, to gaze upon the dark thought, thou
"Hast conjur❜d to appal me!-leave me! Heaven!

"Leave Rome, and me!—Nay, nay, unknit that brow!"

"List to me, Zoe !-In my father's land,
"For ages have our bold race bow'd the knee

"To false gods fed on that idolatry,

"Which maketh what it worships. It is given

"The Mighty Hour, in which our hearts shall leap "As at a trumpet, from their Pagan sleep;

"And light shall burst into our souls, that we

"May know the faith which bids God's images be free! "For this at morn,--ere the exulting sun "Flush o'er the Eastern heav'n-as the grey light "Toils up the rear of Darkness;-hath begun "My solemn orison-for this, the Night

"Hath by a thousand shadows, dreams, and signs,

"Fill'd my stern heart with Hope, whose truth it now

divines !

"Yea, ere I loved thee, Zoe-ere I asked,

"Ev'n if the love of women were for me,

"There was one Shape, one Queen, for whom I tasked "The powers and prowess of my infancy.

66

Still, shining, pure, and circumfus'd in all "The calmness and the glory of old days, "Oft, (as in loneliest cell,) in haughtiest hall, "Unseen by others, gleam'd she on my gaze. "And when I ask'd the name on which to call, "When chaf'd beneath the pomp, the power, the gaud, "Which the dup'd Many deck with hollow laud,

66

My deep soul sickened that fair face to see,

6

"Truth from the womb of Time did answer Liberty !'

"And now she calls me with an angel's voice
"Homeward, o'er land and ocean to her cause;
"And my blood burns within me, that the choice
"Of hour and clime, in which His loftiest laws

"HE rights our God hath cast, albeit in strife,zola "Upon the age and land, in which I drank my life!"A

She look'd upon that brow so fair and high,****
Too bright for sorrow, as too bold for feår

She look'd upon the light of that large eye
Which dreamt not of the blindness glooming near.
She look'd, and sigh'd; and with a trembling hand,
Touch'd his young arm: he turn'd-the knit command
The fiery spirit of his features grew

Soft and more soft-until, as clouds pursue
Each other, shadowing o'er some star, above,
All sternness fled, and left his face to Love!

"Come, then, my Zoe, on this pilgrimage,
"This high and noble travail of the soul;
"Come, be my guide, my partner, and my staff,

66

My hope in youth, my haven in my age! : "Come, if the world forsake, or Fate control, "Or Fortune leave me and the bitter rage "Of Foes, in love with Fetters, make me quaff "Ev'n to the last the hemlock of the bowl,

"Reserv'd for those, who, vanquish'd, chafe the tide. "Of Custom's ire, its passions, and its pride:→

"Come be my spendthrift-heart's last lonely hoard,

66

My wealth, my world-my solace, my reward.

"Come-though from marble domes, and orange bowers- ' "Come to a humble roof, a northern sky;