XII. She thinks how many have been sunk and drown'd, Which she interprets of that fatal stream. XIII. Saying, "That honey'd fly I saw was thee, When, lo! the flow'r, enamour'd of my bee, XIV. But next, remembering her virgin fame, As steadfast frosts are thaw'd by show'rs of rain. O for a type of parting! XV. Love to love Is like the fond attraction of two spheres, Which needs a godlike effort to remove, XVI. So brave Leander sunders from his bride ; The wrenching pang disparts his soul in twain; Half stays with her, half goes towards the tide, — And life must ache, until they join again. Now would'st thou know the wideness of the wound, Mete every step he takes upon the ground. XVII. And for the agony and bosom-throe, Let it be measur'd by the wide vast air, For that is infinite, and so is woe, Since parted lovers breathe it every where. Look how it heaves Leander's labouring chest, Panting, at poise, upon a rocky crest! XVIII. From which he leaps into the scooping brine, XIX. Then sadly he confronts his two-fold toil XX. Yet turning oft, he sees her troubled locks Pursue him still the furthest that they may; Her marble arms that overstretch the rocks, And her pale passion'd hands that seem to pray In dumb petition to the gods above: Love prays devoutly when it prays for love! XXI. Then with deep sighs he blows away the wave, XXII. The drowsy mist before him chill and dank, Like a dull lethargy o'erleans the sea, Where he rows on against the utter blank, Steering as if to dim eternity, — Like Love's frail ghost departing with the dawn; A failing shadow in the twilight drawn. XXIII. And soon is gone, or nothing but a faint That mocks his model with an after-paint, And stains an atom like the shape she sought; Then with her earnest vows she hopes to fee, The old and hoary majesty of sea. XXIV. "O King of waves, and brother of high Jove, A woman's heart, and its whole wealth of love, Nay, but two loves, two lives, a double fate, XXV. "If impious mariners be stain'd with crime, Lest my frail bark be dash'd against the rocks: Like Love himself, upon a seeming sky! XXVI. "Let all thy herded monsters sleep beneath, Nor gore him with crook'd tusks, or wreathed horns, Let no fierce sharks destroy him with their teeth, Nor spine-fish wound him with their venom'd thorns; But if he faint, and timely succour lack, Let ruthful dolphins rest him on their back. |