110 Where roll'd the ocean, thereon was his home; Where a blue sky, and glowing clime, extends, He had the passion and the power to roam; The desert, forest, cavern, breaker's foam,
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622 / GEORGE GORDON, LORD BYRON . ?-?'
Were unto him companionship; they spake 115 A mutual language, clearer than the tome? book Of his land's tongue, which he would oft forsake For Nature's pages glass'd? by sunbeams on the lake. made glassy
14
Like the Chaldean,6 he could watch the stars, Till he had peopled them with beings bright
120 As their own beams; and earth, and earth-born jars, And human frailties, were forgotten quite: Could he have kept his spirit to that flight He had been happy; but this clay will sink Its spark immortal, envying it the light
125 To which it mounts, as if to break the link That keeps us from yon heaven which woos us to its brink.
15
But in Man's dwellings he became a thing Restless and worn, and stern and wearisome, Droop'd as a wild- born falcon with dipt wing,
130 To whom the boundless air alone were home: Then came his fit again, which to o'ercome, As eagerly the barr'd-up bird will beat His breast and beak against his wiry dome Till the blood tinge his plumage, so the heat
135 Of his impeded soul would through his bosom eat.
16
Self-exiled Harold wanders forth again, With nought of hope left, but with less of gloom; The very knowledge that he lived in vain, That all was over on this side the tomb,
140 Had made Despair a smilingness assume, Which, though 'twere wild,?as on the plundered wreck When mariners would madly meet their doom With draughts intemperate on the sinking deck,?
Did yet inspire a cheer, which he forbore to check.
[WATERLOO]
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145 Stop!-?for thy tread is on an Empire's dust! An Earthquake's spoil is sepulchered below! Is the spot mark'd with no colossal bust? Nor column trophied for triumphal show?7 None; but the moral's truth tells simpler so,
150 As the ground was before, thus let it be;? How that red rain hath made the harvest grow! And is this all the world has gained by thee,
Thou first and last of fields! king-making Victory?
6. A people of ancient Babylonia, expert in astron- ancient Rome to honor conquering generals, a cusomy. torn Napoleon had revived.
7. Referring to the triumphal arches erected in
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CHILDE HAROLD'S PILGRIMAGE, CANTO 1 / 62 3
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And Harold stands upon this place of skulls,
155 The grave of France, the deadly Waterloo!8 How in an hour the power which gave annuls Its gifts, transferring fame as fleeting too! In 'pride of place' here last the eagle flew,9 Then tore with bloody talon the rent plain,
160 Pierced by the shaft of banded nations1 through; Ambition's life and labours all were vain; He wears the shattered links of the world's broken chain.2
Fit retribution! Gaul3 may champ the bit And foam in fetters;?but is Earth more free?
165 Did nations combat to make One submit; Or league to teach all kings true sovereignty? What! shall reviving Thraldom again be The patched-up idol of enlightened days? Shall we, who struck the Lion down, shall we
170 Pay the Wolf homage? proffering lowly gaze And servile knees to thrones? No; prove4 before ye praise!
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If not, o'er one fallen despot boast no more! In vain fair cheeks were furrowed with hot tears For Europe's flowers long rooted up before
175 The trampler of her vineyards; in vain years Of death, depopulation, bondage, fears, Have all been borne, and broken by the accord Of roused-up millions: all that most endears Glory, is when the myrtle wreathes a sword
180 Such as Harmodius drew on Athens' tyrant lord.5
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There was a sound of revelry by night,6 And Belgium's capital had gathered then Her Beauty and her Chivalry, and bright The lamps shone o'er fair women and brave men;
