SONGS OF THE SPIRITS IN "MANFRED." Around his waist are forests braced, The Avalanche in his hand; But ere it fall, that thundering ball Must pause for my command. The Glacier's cold and restless mass Moves onward day by day; But I am he who bids it pass, Or with its ice delay. I am the spirit of the place, Could make the mountain bow And quiver to his caverned base : And what with me wouldst thou? VOICE OF THE THIRD SPIRIT. In the blue depth of the waters, Where the wave hath no strife, Where the wind is a stranger, And the sea-snake hath life, Where the Mermaid is decking Her green hair with shells, Like the storm on the surface Came the sound of thy spells; O'er my calm Hall of Coral The deep echo rolled To the Spirit of Ocean Thy wishes unfold! FOURTH SPIRIT. Where the slumbering earthquake Lies pillowed on fire, And the lakes of bitumen Rise boilingly higher; Where the roots of the Andes Strike deep in the earth, I have quitted my birthplace, FIFTH SPIRIT. I am the Rider of the wind, Is yet with lightning warm; The fleet I met sailed well, and yet 'T will sink ere night be past. SIXTH SPIRIT. My dwelling is the shadow of the night, Why doth thy magic torture me with light? SEVENTH SPIRIT. The star which rules thy destiny A bright deformity on high, The monster of the upper sky! bend, And parley with a thing like thee— What wouldst thou, Child of Clay! with me? b SONGS OF THE SPIRITS IN "MANFRED." THE SEVEN SPIRITS. Earth, ocean, air, night, mountains, winds, thy star, What wouldst thou with us, son of mortals-say? MANFRED. Forgetfulness FIRST SPIRIT. Of what-of whom-and why? MANFRED. Of that which is within me; read it there- SPIRIT. We can but give thee that which we possess: O'er earth-the whole or portion--or a sign We are the dominators,-each and all, Can ye not wring from out the hidden realms Ye offer so profusely what I ask? SPIRIT. It is not in our essence, in our skill; MANFRED. Will death bestow it on me? SPIRIT. We are immortal, and do not forget; We are eternal, and to us the past Is, as the future, present. Art thou answered? |