725 And yet the tears she wept were tears of sorrow; Answering thus, just as the golden mor row Beam'd upward from the valleys of the east: "O that the flutter of this heart had ceas'd, Or the sweet name of love had pass'd away. 730 Young feather'd tyrant! by a swift decay Wilt thou devote this body to the earth: And I do think that at my very birth I lisp'd thy blooming titles inwardly; For at the first, first dawn and thought of thee, 735 With uplift hands I blest the stars of heaven. Art thou not cruel? Ever have I striven To think thee kind, but ah, it will not do!' When yet a child, I heard that kisses drew Favor from thee, and so I kisses gave 740 To the void air, bidding them find out love: But when I came to feel how far above All fancy, pride, and fickle maidenhood, All earthly pleasure, all imagin'd good, Was the warm tremble of a devout kiss,745 Even then, that moment, at the thought of this, Fainting I fell into a bed of flowers, And languish'd there three days. Ye milder powers, Am I not cruelly wrong'd? Believe, believe Me, dear Endymion, were I to weave 750 With my own fancies garlands of sweet life, Thou shouldst be one of all. Ah, bitter 790 strife! I may not be thy love: I am forbiddenIndeed I am thwarted, affrighted, chidden, By things I trembled at, and gorgon wrath. 755 Twice hast thou ask'd whither I went: henceforth Ask me no more! I may not utter it, We might embrace and die: voluptuous 760 Enlarge not to my hunger, or I'm caught The Carian No word return'd: both lovelorn, silent, wan, 765 Into the valleys green together went. dream; 795 Nor could an arrow light, or javelin, Fly in the air where his had never beenAnd yet he knew it not. 800 O treachery! Peona of the woods!-Can she endure- 1 A reference to Hyperion, whom Keats already had in mind as the subject of a poem. Hyperion was not a brother of Endymion. 2 An imaginary flower supposed never to fade. Be gods of your own rest imperial. . To shepherds and their flocks; and furthermore, 860 go 'Mong men, are pleasures real as real may But there are higher ones I may not see, lave Thy spirit in the wonders I shall tell. per well; For to thy tongue will I all health confide. 865 And, for my sake, let this young maid abide With thee as a dear sister. Thou alone, Thou seest it for my happiness, no pearl 870 Will trespass down those cheeks. Companion fair!. In Dian's face they read the gentle lore: Therefore for her these vesper-carols are. $35 Our friends will all be there from nigh 875 and far. Many upon thy death have ditties made; And many, even now, their foreheads shade With cypress,1 on a day of sacrifice. New singing for our maids shalt thou devise, 10 And pluck the sorrow from our hunts- Tell me, my lady-queen, how to espouse poise His fate most goddess-like. Help me, I Wilt be content to dwell with her, to share This sister's love with me?" Like one resign'd And bent by circumstance, and thereby blind In self-commitment, thus that meek unknown: "Aye, but a buzzing by my ears has flown, Of jubilee to Dian:-truth I heard? Well then, I see there is no little bird, Tender soever, but is Jove's own care.1 Long have I sought for rest, and, unaware, 880 Behold I find it! so exalted too! 885 What ails thee?" He could bear no more, 890 and so Bent his soul fiercely like a spiritual bow, 1 The cypress is an emblem of mourning. So after my own heart! I knew, I knew see My future days to her fane consecrate." As feels a dreamer what doth most create His own particular fright, so these three felt: Or like one who, in after ages, knelt To Lucifer or Baal, when he'd pine 895 Who know him not. Each diligently bends Towards common thoughts and things for Striving their ghastly malady to cheer, 900 Was struck, and all were dreamers. At the last Endymion said: "Are not our fates all cast? Why stand we here? Adieu, ye tender pair! 930 Bows down his summer head below the west. Now am I of breath, speech, and speed possest, But at the setting I must bid adieu To her for the last time. Night will strew On the damp grass myriads of lingering leaves, 935 And with them shall I die; nor much it grieves Adieu!" Whereat those maidens, with 940 wild stare, Walk'd dizzily away. Pained and hot 905 His eyes went after them, until they got Near to a cypress grove, whose deadly To die, when summer dies on the cold sward. Why, I have been a butterfly, a lord Of flowers, garlands, love-knots, silly posies, Groves, meadows, melodies, and arbor wight! Endymion!" said Peona, "we are here! What wouldst thou ere we all are laid on bier?" Then he embrac'd her, and his lady's hand 975 Press'd, saying: "Sister, I would have command, If it were heaven's will, on our sad fate." At which that dark-eyed stranger stood elate And said, in a new voice, but sweet as love, To Endymion's amaze: "By Cupid's dove, 980 And so thou shalt! and by the lily truth Of my own breast thou shalt, beloved youth!" And as she spake, into her face there came Light, as reflected from a silver flame: Her long black hair swell'd ampler, in display 985 Full golden; in her eyes a brighter day Dawn'd blue and full of love. Aye, he beheld Phoebe, his passion! joyous she upheld Her lucid bow, continuing thus: "Drear. drear Has our delaying been; but foolish fear 990 Withheld me first; and then decrees of fate; 1 2 ISABELLA; OR THE POT OF BASIL' A STORY FROM BOCCACCIO2 1818 1820 Fair Isabel, poor simple Isabel! Lorenzo, a young palmer in Love's eye!3 They could not in the self-same mansion dwell Without some stir of heart, some malady; They could not sit at meals but feel how well It soothed each to be the other by; They could not, sure, beneath the same roof sleep But to each other dream, and nightly weep. |