LXXII. But cold and deaf the sullen creature lies, LXXIII. Surely he sleeps, so her false wits infer! Alas! poor sluggard, ne'er to wake again! Surely he sleeps, yet without any stir Or if he does not sleep, he feigns too long, Twice she hath reach'd the ending of her song. LXXIV. Therefore 'tis time she tells him to uncover LXXV. With that she stoops above his brow, and bids That she may gaze upon the jewels there, LXXVI. Now, picture one, soft creeping to a bed, Who slowly parts the fringe-hung canopies, So she looks in on his uncover'd eyes, And seeing all within so drear and dark, Her own bright soul dies in her like a spark. LXXVII. Backward she falls, like a pale prophetess, Under the swoon of holy divination : And what had all surpass'd her simple guess, She now resolves in this dark revelation; Death's very mystery, - oblivious death; Long sleep, deep night, and an entranced breath. LXXVIII. Yet life, though wounded sore, not wholly slain, LXXIX. Then like the sun, awaken'd at new dawn, But her true grief grows shapely by degrees, LXXX. And now she knows how that old Murther preys, Whose quarry on her lap lies newly slain; Like a lean tiger in Love's own domain ; Parting fond mates, and oft in flowery lawns Bereaves mild mothers of their milky fawns. LXXXI. O too dear knowledge! O pernicious earning! Ev'n now the sorrow of that deadly learning And on her cheek stamps verdict of death's truth, LXXXII. For as unwholesome winds decay the leaf, LXXXIII. Whence being shed, the liquid crystalline Drops straightway down, refusing to partake In gross admixture with the baser brine, But shrinks and hardens into pearls opaque, So one maid's trophy is another's tears! LXXXIV. "O foul Arch-Shadow, thou old cloud of Night, (Thus in her frenzy she began to wail,) Thou blank oblivion blotter out of light, Life's ruthless murderer, and dear love's bale ! Leaving me here, and slaying the more sweet? LXXXV. "Lo! what a lovely ruin thou hast made, LXXXVI. "O doubly cruel! - twice misdoing spite, Or walk the wide world through, devoid of sight, Nay, then thou should'st have spared my rose, false Death, H |