Than if with thee the roaring wells And hands so often clasped in mine Should toss with tangle and with shells. XI. CALM is the morn without a sound, Calm and deep peace on this high wold, And on these dews that drench the furze, And all the silvery gossamers That twinkle into green and gold: Calm and still light on yon great plain That sweeps, with all its autumn bowers, And crowded farms and lessening towers, To mingle with the bounding main: Calm and deep peace in this wide air, These leaves that redden to the fall; And in my heart, if calm at all, If any calm, a calm despair: Calm on the seas, and silver sleep, And waves that sway themselves in rest, And dead calm in that noble breast Which heaves but with the heaving deep. XII. Lo! as a dove when up she springs To bear through Heaven a tale of woe, Some dolorous message knit below The wild pulsation of her wings; Like her I go I cannot stay; I leave this mortal ark behind, A weight of nerves without a mind, And leave the cliffs, and haste away O'er ocean mirrors rounded large, And reach the glow of southern skies, And see the sails at distance rise, And linger weeping on the marge, And saying, "Comes he thus, my friend? Is this the end of all my care?' And circle moaning in the air : "Is this the end? Is this the end? |