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  • Lara: A Tale[;] Canto the Second

Lara: A Tale[;] Canto the Second

  1. 1Night wanes--the vapours round the mountains curled
  2. 2Melt into morn, and Light awakes the world,
  3. 3Man has another day to swell the past,
  4. 4And lead him near to little, but his last;
  5. 5But mighty Nature bounds as from her birth,
  6. 6The Sun is in the heavens, and Life on earth;
  7. 7Flowers in the valley, splendour in the beam,
  8. 8Health on the gale, and freshness in the stream.
  9. 9Immortal Man! behold her glories shine,
  10. 10And cry, exulting inly, "They are thine!"
  11. 11Gaze on, while yet thy gladdened eye may see:
  12. 12A morrow comes when they are not for thee:
  13. 13And grieve what may above thy senseless bier,
  14. 14Nor earth nor sky will yield a single tear;
  15. 15Nor cloud shall gather more, nor leaf shall fall,
  16. 16Nor gale breathe forth one sigh for thee, for all;
  17. 17But creeping things shall revel in their spoil,
  18. 18And fit thy clay to fertilise the soil.
  1. 19'Tis morn--'tis noon--assembled in the hall,
  2. 20The gathered Chieftains come to Otho's call;
  3. 21'Tis now the promised hour, that must proclaim
  4. 22The life or death of Lara's future fame;
  5. 23And Ezzelin his charge may here unfold,
  6. 24And whatsoe'er the tale, it must be told.
  7. 25His faith was pledged, and Lara's promise given,
  8. 26To meet it in the eye of Man and Heaven.
  9. 27Why comes he not? Such truths to be divulged,
  10. 28Methinks the accuser's rest is long indulged.
  1. 29The hour is past, and Lara too is there,
  2. 30With self-confiding, coldly patient air;
  3. 31Why comes not Ezzelin? The hour is past,
  4. 32And murmurs rise, and Otho's brow's o'ercast.
  5. 33"I know my friend! his faith I cannot fear,
  6. 34If yet he be on earth, expect him here;
  7. 35The roof that held him in the valley stands
  8. 36Between my own and noble Lara's lands;
  9. 37My halls from such a guest had honour gained,
  10. 38Nor had Sir Ezzelin his host disdained,
  11. 39But that some previous proof forbade his stay,
  12. 40And urged him to prepare against to-day;
  13. 41The word I pledged for his I pledge again,
  14. 42Or will myself redeem his knighthood's stain."
  15. 43He ceased--and Lara answered, "I am here
  16. 44To lend at thy demand a listening ear
  17. 45To tales of evil from a stranger's tongue,
  18. 46Whose words already might my heart have wrung,
  19. 47But that I deemed him scarcely less than mad,
  20. 48Or, at the worst, a foe ignobly bad.
  21. 49I know him not--but me it seems he knew
  22. 50In lands where--but I must not trifle too:
  23. 51Produce this babbler--or redeem the pledge;
  24. 52Here in thy hold, and with thy falchion's edge."
  1. 53Proud Otho on the instant, reddening, threw
  2. 54His glove on earth, and forth his sabre flew.
  3. 55"The last alternative befits me best,
  4. 56And thus I answer for mine absent guest."
  1. 57With cheek unchanging from its sallow gloom,
  2. 58However near his own or other's tomb;
  3. 59With hand, whose almost careless coolness spoke
  4. 60Its grasp well-used to deal the sabre-stroke;
  5. 61With eye, though calm, determined not to spare,
  6. 62Did Lara too his willing weapon bare.
  7. 63In vain the circling Chieftains round them closed,
  8. 64For Otho's frenzy would not be opposed;
  9. 65And from his lip those words of insult fell--
  10. 66His sword is good who can maintain them well.
  1. 67Short was the conflict; furious, blindly rash,
  2. 68Vain Otho gave his bosom to the gash:
  3. 69He bled, and fell; but not with deadly wound,
  4. 70Stretched by a dextrous sleight along the ground.
  5. 71"Demand thy life!" He answered not: and then
  6. 72From that red floor he ne'er had risen again,
  7. 73For Lara's brow upon the moment grew
  8. 74Almost to blackness in its demon hue;
  9. 75And fiercer shook his angry falchion now
  10. 76Than when his foe's was levelled at his brow;
  11. 77Then all was stern collectedness and art,
  12. 78Now rose the unleavened hatred of his heart;
  13. 79So little sparing to the foe he felled,
  14. 80That when the approaching crowd his arm withheld,
  15. 81He almost turned the thirsty point on those
  16. 82Who thus for mercy dared to interpose;
  17. 83But to a moment's thought that purpose bent;
  18. 84Yet looked he on him still with eye intent,
  19. 85As if he loathed the ineffectual strife
  20. 86That left a foe, howe'er o'erthrown, with life;
  21. 87As if to search how far the wound he gave
  22. 88Had sent its victim onward to his grave.
  1. 89They raised the bleeding Otho, and the Leech
  2. 90Forbade all present question, sign, and speech;
  3. 91The others met within a neighbouring hall,
  4. 92And he, incensed, and heedless of them all,
  5. 93The cause and conqueror in this sudden fray,
  6. 94In haughty silence slowly strode away;
  7. 95He backed his steed, his homeward path he took,
  8. 96Nor cast on Otho's towers a single look.
  1. 97But where was he? that meteor of a night,
  2. 98Who menaced but to disappear with light.
  3. 99Where was this Ezzelin? who came and went,
  4. 100To leave no other trace of his intent.
  5. 101He left the dome of Otho long ere morn,
  6. 102In darkness, yet so well the path was worn
  7. 103He could not miss it: near his dwelling lay;
  8. 104But there he was not, and with coming day
  9. 105Came fast inquiry, which unfolded nought,
  10. 106Except the absence of the Chief it sought.
  11. 107A chamber tenantless, a steed at rest,
  12. 108His host alarmed, his murmuring squires distressed:
  13. 109Their search extends along, around the path,
  14. 110In dread to meet the marks of prowlers' wrath:
  15. 111But none are there, and not a brake hath borne
  16. 112Nor gout of blood, nor shred of mantle torn;
  17. 113Nor fall nor struggle hath defaced the grass,
  18. 114Which still retains a mark where Murder was;
  19. 115Nor dabbling fingers left to tell the tale,
  20. 116The bitter print of each convulsive nail,
  21. 117When agoniséd hands that cease to guard,
  22. 118Wound in that pang the smoothness of the sward.
  23. 119Some such had been, if here a life was reft,
  24. 120But these were not; and doubting Hope is left;
  25. 121And strange Suspicion, whispering Lara's name,
  26. 122Now daily mutters o'er his blackened fame;
  27. 123Then sudden silent when his form appeared,
  28. 124Awaits the absence of the thing it feared
  29. 125Again its wonted wondering to renew,
  30. 126And dye conjecture with a darker hue.
  1. 127Days roll along, and Otho's wounds are healed,
  2. 128But not his pride; and hate no more concealed:
  3. 129He was a man of power, and Lara's foe,
  4. 130The friend of all who sought to work him woe,
  5. 131And from his country's justice now demands
  6. 132Account of Ezzelin at Lara's hands.
  7. 133Who else than Lara could have cause to fear
  8. 134His presence? who had made him disappear,
  9. 135If not the man on whom his menaced charge
  10. 136Had sate too deeply were he left at large?
  11. 137The general rumour ignorantly loud,
  12. 138The mystery dearest to the curious crowd;
  13. 139The seeming friendliness of him who strove
  14. 140To win no confidence, and wake no love;
  15. 141The sweeping fierceness which his soul betrayed,
  16. 142The skill with which he wielded his keen blade;
  17. 143Where had his arm unwarlike caught that art?
  18. 144Where had that fierceness grown upon his heart?
  19. 145For it was not the blind capricious rage
  20. 146A word can kindle and a word assuage;
  21. 147But the deep working of a soul unmixed
  22. 148With aught of pity where its wrath had fixed;
  23. 149Such as long power and overgorged success
  24. 150Concentrates into all that's merciless:
  25. 151These, linked with that desire which ever sways
  26. 152Mankind, the rather to condemn than praise,
  27. 153'Gainst Lara gathering raised at length a storm,
  28. 154Such as himself might fear, and foes would form,
  29. 155And he must answer for the absent head
  30. 156Of one that haunts him still, alive or dead.
  1. 157Within that land was many a malcontent,
  2. 158Who cursed the tyranny to which he bent;
  3. 159That soil full many a wringing despot saw,
  4. 160Who worked his wantonness in form of law;
  5. 161Long war without and frequent broil within
  6. 162Had made a path for blood and giant sin,
  7. 163That waited but a signal to begin
  8. 164New havoc, such as civil discord blends,
  9. 165Which knows no neuter, owns but foes or friends;
  10. 166Fixed in his feudal fortress each was lord,
  11. 167In word and deed obeyed, in soul abhorred.
  12. 168Thus Lara had inherited his lands,
  13. 169And with them pining hearts and sluggish hands;
  14. 170But that long absence from his native clime
  15. 171Had left him stainless of Oppression's crime,
  16. 172And now, diverted by his milder sway,
  17. 173All dread by slow degrees had worn away.
  18. 174The menials felt their usual awe alone,
  19. 175But more for him than them that fear was grown;
  20. 176They deemed him now unhappy, though at first
  21. 177Their evil judgment augured of the worst,
  22. 178And each long restless night, and silent mood,
  23. 179Was traced to sickness, fed by solitude:
  24. 180And though his lonely habits threw of late
  25. 181Gloom o'er his chamber, cheerful was his gate;
  26. 182For thence the wretched ne'er unsoothed withdrew,
  27. 183For them, at least, his soul compassion knew.
  28. 184Cold to the great, contemptuous to the high,
  29. 185The humble passed not his unheeding eye;
  30. 186Much he would speak not, but beneath his roof
  31. 187They found asylum oft, and ne'er reproof.
  32. 188And they who watched might mark that, day by day,
  33. 189Some new retainers gathered to his sway;
  34. 190But most of late, since Ezzelin was lost,
  35. 191He played the courteous lord and bounteous host:
  36. 192Perchance his strife with Otho made him dread
  37. 193Some snare prepared for his obnoxious head;
  38. 194Whate'er his view, his favour more obtains
  39. 195With these, the people, than his fellow thanes.
  40. 196If this were policy, so far 'twas sound,
  41. 197The million judged but of him as they found;
  42. 198From him by sterner chiefs to exile driven
  43. 199They but required a shelter, and 'twas given.
  44. 200By him no peasant mourned his rifled cot,
  45. 201And scarce the Serf could murmur o'er his lot;
  46. 202With him old Avarice found its hoard secure,
  47. 203With him contempt forbore to mock the poor;
  48. 204Youth present cheer and promised recompense
  49. 205Detained, till all too late to part from thence:
  50. 206To Hate he offered, with the coming change,
  51. 207The deep reversion of delayed revenge;
  52. 208To Love, long baffled by the unequal match,
  53. 209The well-won charms success was sure to snatch.
  54. 210All now was ripe, he waits but to proclaim
  55. 211That slavery nothing which was still a name.
  56. 212The moment came, the hour when Otho thought
  57. 213Secure at last the vengeance which he sought:
  58. 214His summons found the destined criminal
  59. 215Begirt by thousands in his swarming hall;
  60. 216Fresh from their feudal fetters newly riven,
  61. 217Defying earth, and confident of heaven.
  62. 218That morning he had freed the soil-bound slaves,
  63. 219Who dig no land for tyrants but their graves!
  64. 220Such is their cry--some watchword for the fight
  65. 221Must vindicate the wrong, and warp the right;
  66. 222Religion--Freedom--Vengeance--what you will,
  67. 223A word's enough to raise Mankind to kill;
  68. 224Some factious phrase by cunning caught and spread,
  69. 225That Guilt may reign-and wolves and worms be fed!
  1. 226Throughout that clime the feudal Chiefs had gained
  2. 227Such sway, their infant monarch hardly reigned;
  3. 228Now was the hour for Faction's rebel growth,
  4. 229The Serfs contemned the one, and hated both:
  5. 230They waited but a leader, and they found
  6. 231One to their cause inseparably bound;
  7. 232By circumstance compelled to plunge again,
  8. 233In self-defence, amidst the strife of men.
  9. 234Cut off by some mysterious fate from those
  10. 235Whom Birth and Nature meant not for his foes,
  11. 236Had Lara from that night, to him accurst,
  12. 237Prepared to meet, but not alone, the worst:
  13. 238Some reason urged, whate'er it was, to shun
  14. 239Inquiry into deeds at distance done;
  15. 240By mingling with his own the cause of all,
  16. 241E'en if he failed, he still delayed his fall.
  17. 242The sullen calm that long his bosom kept,
  18. 243The storm that once had spent itself and slept,
  19. 244Roused by events that seemed foredoomed to urge
  20. 245His gloomy fortunes to their utmost verge,
  21. 246Burst forth, and made him all he once had been,
  22. 247And is again; he only changed the scene.
  23. 248Light care had he for life, and less for fame,
  24. 249But not less fitted for the desperate game:
  25. 250He deemed himself marked out for others' hate,
  26. 251And mocked at Ruin so they shared his fate.
  27. 252And cared he for the freedom of the crowd?
  28. 253He raised the humble but to bend the proud.
  29. 254He had hoped quiet in his sullen lair,
  30. 255But Man and Destiny beset him there:
  31. 256Inured to hunters, he was found at bay;
  32. 257And they must kill, they cannot snare the prey.
  33. 258Stern, unambitious, silent, he had been
  34. 259Henceforth a calm spectator of Life's scene;
  35. 260But dragged again upon the arena, stood
  36. 261A leader not unequal to the feud;
  37. 262In voice--mien--gesture--savage nature spoke,
  38. 263And from his eye the gladiator broke.
  1. 264What boots the oft-repeated tale of strife,
  2. 265The feast of vultures, and the waste of life?
  3. 266The varying fortune of each separate field,
  4. 267The fierce that vanquish, and the faint that yield?
  5. 268The smoking ruin, and the crumbled wall?
  6. 269In this the struggle was the same with all;
  7. 270Save that distempered passions lent their force
  8. 271In bitterness that banished all remorse.
  9. 272None sued, for Mercy knew her cry was vain,
  10. 273The captive died upon the battle-plain:
  11. 274In either cause, one rage alone possessed
  12. 275The empire of the alternate victor's breast;
  13. 276And they that smote for freedom or for sway,
  14. 277Deemed few were slain, while more remained to slay.
  15. 278It was too late to check the wasting brand,
  16. 279And Desolation reaped the famished land;
  17. 280The torch was lighted, and the flame was spread,
  18. 281And Carnage smiled upon her daily dead.
  1. 282Fresh with the nerve the new-born impulse strung,
  2. 283The first success to Lara's numbers clung:
  3. 284But that vain victory hath ruined all;
  4. 285They form no longer to their leader's call:
  5. 286In blind confusion on the foe they press,
  6. 287And think to snatch is to secure success.
  7. 288The lust of booty, and the thirst of hate,
  8. 289Lure on the broken brigands to their fate:
  9. 290In vain he doth whate'er a chief may do,
  10. 291To check the headlong fury of that crew;
  11. 292In vain their stubborn ardour he would tame,
  12. 293The hand that kindles cannot quench the flame;
  13. 294The wary foe alone hath turned their mood,
  14. 295And shown their rashness to that erring brood:
  15. 296The feigned retreat, the nightly ambuscade,
  16. 297The daily harass, and the fight delayed,
  17. 298The long privation of the hoped supply,
  18. 299The tentless rest beneath the humid sky,
  19. 300The stubborn wall that mocks the leaguer's art,
  20. 301And palls the patience of his baffled art,
  21. 302Of these they had not deemed: the battle-day
  22. 303They could encounter as a veteran may;
  23. 304But more preferred the fury of the strife,
  24. 305And present death, to hourly suffering life:
  25. 306And Famine wrings, and Fever sweeps away
  26. 307His numbers melting fast from their array;
  27. 308Intemperate triumph fades to discontent,
  28. 309And Lara's soul alone seems still unbent;
  29. 310But few remain to aid his voice and hand,
  30. 311And thousands dwindled to a scanty band:
  31. 312Desperate, though few, the last and best remained
  32. 313To mourn the discipline they late disdained.
  33. 314One hope survives, the frontier is not far,
  34. 315And thence they may escape from native war:
  35. 316And bear within them to the neighbouring state
  36. 317An exile's sorrows, or an outlaw's hate:
  37. 318Hard is the task their father-land to quit,
  38. 319But harder still to perish or submit.
  1. 320It is resolved--they march--consenting Night
  2. 321Guides with her star their dim and torchless flight;
  3. 322Already they perceive its tranquil beam
  4. 323Sleep on the surface of the barrier stream;
  5. 324Already they descry--Is yon the bank?
  6. 325Away! 'tis lined with many a hostile rank.
  7. 326Return or fly!--What glitters in the rear?
  8. 327'Tis Otho's banner--the pursuer's spear!
  9. 328Are those the shepherds' fires upon the height?
  10. 329Alas! they blaze too widely for the flight:
  11. 330Cut off from hope, and compassed in the toil,
  12. 331Less blood perchance hath bought a richer spoil!
  1. 332A moment's pause--'tis but to breathe their band,
  2. 333Or shall they onward press, or here withstand?
  3. 334It matters little--if they charge the foes
  4. 335Who by their border-stream their march oppose,
  5. 336Some few, perchance, may break and pass the line,
  6. 337However linked to baffle such design.
  7. 338"The charge be ours! to wait for their assault
  8. 339Were fate well worthy of a coward's halt."
  9. 340Forth flies each sabre, reined is every steed,
  10. 341And the next word shall scarce outstrip the deed:
  11. 342In the next tone of Lara's gathering breath
  12. 343How many shall but hear the voice of Death!
  1. 344His blade is bared,--in him there is an air
  2. 345As deep, but far too tranquil for despair;
  3. 346A something of indifference more than then
  4. 347Becomes the bravest, if they feel for men--
  5. 348He turned his eye on Kaled, ever near,
  6. 349And still too faithful to betray one fear;
  7. 350Perchance 'twas but the moon's dim twilight threw
  8. 351Along his aspect an unwonted hue
  9. 352Of mournful paleness, whose deep tint expressed
  10. 353The truth, and not the terror of his breast.
  11. 354This Lara marked, and laid his hand on his:
  12. 355It trembled not in such an hour as this;
  13. 356His lip was silent, scarcely beat his heart,
  14. 357His eye alone proclaimed, "We will not part!
  15. 358Thy band may perish, or thy friends may flee,
  16. 359Farewell to Life--but not Adieu to thee!"
  1. 360The word hath passed his lips, and onward driven,
  2. 361Pours the linked band through ranks asunder riven:
  3. 362Well has each steed obeyed the arméd heel,
  4. 363And flash the scimitars, and rings the steel;
  5. 364Outnumbered, not outbraved, they still oppose
  6. 365Despair to daring, and a front to foes;
  7. 366And blood is mingled with the dashing stream,
  8. 367Which runs all redly till the morning beam.
  1. 368Commanding--aiding--animating all,
  2. 369Where foe appeared to press, or friend to fall,
  3. 370Cheers Lara's voice, and waves or strikes his steel,
  4. 371Inspiring hope, himself had ceased to feel.
  5. 372None fled, for well they knew that flight were vain;
  6. 373But those that waver turn to smite again,
  7. 374While yet they find the firmest of the foe
  8. 375Recoil before their leader's look and blow:
  9. 376Now girt with numbers, now almost alone,
  10. 377He foils their ranks, or re-unites his own;
  11. 378Himself he spared not--once they seemed to fly--
  12. 379Now was the time, he waved his hand on high,
  13. 380And shook--Why sudden droops that pluméd crest?
  14. 381The shaft is sped--the arrow's in his breast!
  15. 382That fatal gesture left the unguarded side,
  16. 383And Death has stricken down yon arm of pride.
  17. 384The word of triumph fainted from his tongue;
  18. 385That hand, so raised, how droopingly it hung!
  19. 386But yet the sword instinctively retains,
  20. 387Though from its fellow shrink the falling reins;
  21. 388These Kaled snatches: dizzy with the blow,
  22. 389And senseless bending o'er his saddle-bow,
  23. 390Perceives not Lara that his anxious page
  24. 391Beguiles his charger from the combat's rage:
  25. 392Meantime his followers charge, and charge again;
  26. 393Too mixed the slayers now to heed the slain!
  1. 394Day glimmers on the dying and the dead,
  2. 395The cloven cuirass, and the helmless head;
  3. 396The war-horse masterless is on the earth,
  4. 397And that last gasp hath burst his bloody girth;
  5. 398And near, yet quivering with what life remained,
  6. 399The heel that urged him and the hand that reined;
  7. 400And some too near that rolling torrent lie,
  8. 401Whose waters mock the lip of those that die;
  9. 402That panting thirst which scorches in the breath
  10. 403Of those that die the soldier's fiery death,
  11. 404In vain impels the burning mouth to crave
  12. 405One drop--the last--to cool it for the grave;
  13. 406With feeble and convulsive effort swept,
  14. 407Their limbs along the crimsoned turf have crept;
  15. 408The faint remains of life such struggles waste,
  16. 409But yet they reach the stream, and bend to taste:
  17. 410They feel its freshness, and almost partake--
  18. 411Why pause? No further thirst have they to slake--
  19. 412It is unquenched, and yet they feel it not;
  20. 413It was an agony--but now forgot!
  1. 414Beneath a lime, remoter from the scene,
  2. 415Where but for him that strife had never been,
  3. 416A breathing but devoted warrior lay:
  4. 417'Twas Lara bleeding fast from life away.
  5. 418His follower once, and now his only guide,
  6. 419Kneels Kaled watchful o'er his welling side,
  7. 420And with his scarf would staunch the tides that rush,
  8. 421With each convulsion, in a blacker gush;
  9. 422And then, as his faint breathing waxes low,
  10. 423In feebler, not less fatal tricklings flow:
  11. 424He scarce can speak, but motions him 'tis vain,
  12. 425And merely adds another throb to pain.
  13. 426He clasps the hand that pang which would assuage,
  14. 427And sadly smiles his thanks to that dark page,
  15. 428Who nothing fears--nor feels--nor heeds--nor sees--
  16. 429Save that damp brow which rests upon his knees;
  17. 430Save that pale aspect, where the eye, though dim,
  18. 431Held all the light that shone on earth for him.
  1. 432The foe arrives, who long had searched the field,
  2. 433Their triumph nought till Lara too should yield:
  3. 434They would remove him, but they see 'twere vain,
  4. 435And he regards them with a calm disdain,
  5. 436That rose to reconcile him with his fate,
  6. 437And that escape to death from living hate:
  7. 438And Otho comes, and leaping from his steed,
  8. 439Looks on the bleeding foe that made him bleed,
  9. 440And questions of his state; he answers not,
  10. 441Scarce glances on him as on one forgot,
  11. 442And turns to Kaled:--each remaining word
  12. 443They understood not, if distinctly heard;
  13. 444His dying tones are in that other tongue,
  14. 445To which some strange remembrance wildly clung.
  15. 446They spake of other scenes, but what--is known
  16. 447To Kaled, whom their meaning reached alone;
  17. 448And he replied, though faintly, to their sound,
  18. 449While gazed the rest in dumb amazement round:
  19. 450They seemed even then--that twain--unto the last
  20. 451To half forget the present in the past;
  21. 452To share between themselves some separate fate,
  22. 453Whose darkness none beside should penetrate.
  1. 454Their words though faint were many--from the tone
  2. 455Their import those who heard could judge alone;
  3. 456From this, you might have deemed young Kaled's death
  4. 457More near than Lara's by his voice and breath,
  5. 458So sad--so deep--and hesitating broke
  6. 459The accents his scarce-moving pale lips spoke;
  7. 460But Lara's voice, though low, at first was clear
  8. 461And calm, till murmuring Death gasped hoarsely near;
  9. 462But from his visage little could we guess,
  10. 463So unrepentant--dark--and passionless,
  11. 464Save that when struggling nearer to his last,
  12. 465Upon that page his eye was kindly cast;
  13. 466And once, as Kaled's answering accents ceased,
  14. 467Rose Lara's hand, and pointed to the East:
  15. 468Whether (as then the breaking Sun from high
  16. 469Rolled back the clouds) the morrow caught his eye,
  17. 470Or that 'twas chance--or some remembered scene,
  18. 471That raised his arm to point where such had been,
  19. 472Scarce Kaled seemed to know, but turned away,
  20. 473As if his heart abhorred that coming day,
  21. 474And shrunk his glance before that morning light,
  22. 475To look on Lara's brow--where all grew night.
  23. 476Yet sense seemed left, though better were its loss;
  24. 477For when one near displayed the absolving Cross,
  25. 478And proffered to his touch the holy bead,
  26. 479Of which his parting soul might own the need,
  27. 480He looked upon it with an eye profane,
  28. 481And smiled--Heaven pardon! if 'twere with disdain:
  29. 482And Kaled, though he spoke not, nor withdrew
  30. 483From Lara's face his fixed despairing view,
  31. 484With brow repulsive, and with gesture swift,
  32. 485Flung back the hand which held the sacred gift,
  33. 486As if such but disturbed the expiring man,
  34. 487Nor seemed to know his life but then began--
  35. 488That Life of Immortality, secure
  36. 489To none, save them whose faith in Christ is sure.
  1. 490But gasping heaved the breath that Lara drew,
  2. 491And dull the film along his dim eye grew;
  3. 492His limbs stretched fluttering, and his head drooped o'er
  4. 493The weak yet still untiring knee that bore;
  5. 494He pressed the hand he held upon his heart--
  6. 495It beats no more, but Kaled will not part
  7. 496With the cold grasp, but feels, and feels in vain,
  8. 497For that faint throb which answers not again.
  9. 498"It beats!"--Away, thou dreamer! he is gone--
  10. 499It once was Lara which thou look'st upon.
  1. 500He gazed, as if not yet had passed away
  2. 501The haughty spirit of that humbled clay;
  3. 502And those around have roused him from his trance,
  4. 503But cannot tear from thence his fixéd glance;
  5. 504And when, in raising him from where he bore
  6. 505Within his arms the form that felt no more,
  7. 506He saw the head his breast would still sustain,
  8. 507Roll down like earth to earth upon the plain;
  9. 508He did not dash himself thereby, nor tear
  10. 509The glossy tendrils of his raven hair,
  11. 510But strove to stand and gaze, but reeled and fell,
  12. 511Scarce breathing more than that he loved so well.
  13. 512Than that he loved! Oh! never yet beneath
  14. 513The breast of man such trusty love may breathe!
  15. 514That trying moment hath at once revealed
  16. 515The secret long and yet but half concealed;
  17. 516In baring to revive that lifeless breast,
  18. 517Its grief seemed ended, but the sex confessed;
  19. 518And life returned, and Kaled felt no shame--
  20. 519What now to her was Womanhood or Fame?
  1. 520And Lara sleeps not where his fathers sleep,
  2. 521But where he died his grave was dug as deep;
  3. 522Nor is his mortal slumber less profound,
  4. 523Though priest nor blessed nor marble decked the mound,
  5. 524And he was mourned by one whose quiet grief,
  6. 525Less loud, outlasts a people's for their Chief.
  7. 526Vain was all question asked her of the past,
  8. 527And vain e'en menace--silent to the last;
  9. 528She told nor whence, nor why she left behind
  10. 529Her all for one who seemed but little kind.
  11. 530Why did she love him? Curious fool!--be still--
  12. 531Is human love the growth of human will?
  13. 532To her he might be gentleness; the stern
  14. 533Have deeper thoughts than your dull eyes discern,
  15. 534And when they love, your smilers guess not how
  16. 535Beats the strong heart, though less the lips avow.
  17. 536They were not common links, that formed the chain
  18. 537That bound to Lara Kaled's heart and brain;
  19. 538But that wild tale she brooked not to unfold,
  20. 539And sealed is now each lip that could have told.
  1. 540They laid him in the earth, and on his breast,
  2. 541Besides the wound that sent his soul to rest,
  3. 542They found the scattered dints of many a scar,
  4. 543Which were not planted there in recent war;
  5. 544Where'er had passed his summer years of life,
  6. 545It seems they vanished in a land of strife;
  7. 546But all unknown his Glory or his Guilt,
  8. 547These only told that somewhere blood was spilt,
  9. 548And Ezzelin, who might have spoke the past,
  10. 549Returned no more--that night appeared his last.
  1. 550Upon that night (a peasant's is the tale)
  2. 551A Serf that crossed the intervening vale,
  3. 552When Cynthia's light almost gave way to morn,
  4. 553And nearly veiled in mist her waning horn;
  5. 554A Serf, that rose betimes to thread the wood,
  6. 555And hew the bough that bought his children's food,
  7. 556Passed by the river that divides the plain
  8. 557Of Otho's lands and Lara's broad domain:
  9. 558He heard a tramp--a horse and horseman broke
  10. 559From out the wood--before him was a cloak
  11. 560Wrapt round some burthen at his saddle-bow,
  12. 561Bent was his head, and hidden was his brow.
  13. 562Roused by the sudden sight at such a time,
  14. 563And some foreboding that it might be crime,
  15. 564Himself unheeded watched the stranger's course,
  16. 565Who reached the river, bounded from his horse,
  17. 566And lifting thence the burthen which he bore,
  18. 567Heaved up the bank, and dashed it from the shore,
  19. 568Then paused--and looked--and turned--and seemed to watch,
  20. 569And still another hurried glance would snatch,
  21. 570And follow with his step the stream that flowed,
  22. 571As if even yet too much its surface showed;
  23. 572At once he started--stooped--around him strown
  24. 573The winter floods had scattered heaps of stone:
  25. 574Of these the heaviest thence he gathered there,
  26. 575And slung them with a more than common care.
  27. 576Meantime the Serf had crept to where unseen
  28. 577Himself might safely mark what this might mean;
  29. 578He caught a glimpse, as of a floating breast,
  30. 579And something glittered starlike on the vest;
  31. 580But ere he well could mark the buoyant trunk,
  32. 581A massy fragment smote it, and it sunk:
  33. 582It rose again, but indistinct to view,
  34. 583And left the waters of a purple hue,
  35. 584Then deeply disappeared: the horseman gazed
  36. 585Till ebbed the latest eddy it had raised;
  37. 586Then turning, vaulted on his pawing steed,
  38. 587And instant spurred him into panting speed.
  39. 588His face was masked--the features of the dead,
  40. 589If dead it were, escaped the observer's dread;
  41. 590But if in sooth a Star its bosom bore,
  42. 591Such is the badge that Knighthood ever wore,
  43. 592And such 'tis known Sir Ezzelin had worn
  44. 593Upon the night that led to such a morn.
  45. 594If thus he perished, Heaven receive his soul!
  46. 595His undiscovered limbs to ocean roll;
  47. 596And charity upon the hope would dwell
  48. 597It was not Lara's hand by which he fell.
  1. 598And Kaled--Lara--Ezzelin, are gone,
  2. 599Alike without their monumental stone!
  3. 600The first, all efforts vainly strove to wean
  4. 601From lingering where her Chieftain's blood had been:
  5. 602Grief had so tamed a spirit once too proud,
  6. 603Her tears were few, her wailing never loud;
  7. 604But furious would you tear her from the spot
  8. 605Where yet she scarce believed that he was not,
  9. 606Her eye shot forth with all the living fire
  10. 607That haunts the tigress in her whelpless ire;
  11. 608But left to waste her weary moments there,
  12. 609She talked all idly unto shapes of air,
  13. 610Such as the busy brain of Sorrow paints,
  14. 611And woos to listen to her fond complaints:
  15. 612And she would sit beneath the very tree
  16. 613Where lay his drooping head upon her knee;
  17. 614And in that posture where she saw him fall,
  18. 615His words, his looks, his dying grasp recall;
  19. 616And she had shorn, but saved her raven hair,
  20. 617And oft would snatch it from her bosom there,
  21. 618And fold, and press it gently to the ground,
  22. 619As if she staunched anew some phantom's wound.
  23. 620Herself would question, and for him reply;
  24. 621Then rising, start, and beckon him to fly
  25. 622From some imagined Spectre in pursuit;
  26. 623Then seat her down upon some linden's root,
  27. 624And hide her visage with her meagre hand,
  28. 625Or trace strange characters along the sand--
  29. 626This could not last--she lies by him she loved;
  30. 627Her tale untold--her truth too dearly proved.