And, lo! from the heart of that far-floating gloom, What gleams on the darkness so swanlike and white ? Lo! an arm and a neck, glancing up from the tomh! They battle—the Man's with the Element's might. It is he—it is he !--in his left hand behold, As a sign—as a joy !-shines the goblet of gold ! And he breathed deep, and he breathed long, And he greeted the heavenly delight of the day. They gaze on each other—they shout as they throng “He lives-lo the ocean has rendered its prey ! And out of the grave where the Hell began, His valor has rescued the living man!" And he comes with the crowd in their clamor and glee, And the goblet his daring bas won from the water, He lifts to the king as he sinks on his knee; And the king from her maidens has beckoned his daughter, And he bade her the wine to his cup-bearer bring, And thus spake the Diver—"Long life to the king! Iappy they whom the rose-hues of daylight rejoice, The air and the sky that to mortals are given! May the horrors below never more find a voice Nor Man stretch too far the wide mercy of Heaven! Never more-never more may he lift from the mirror, The Veil which is woven with Night and with TERROR! "Quick-brightening like lightning-it tore me along, Down, down, till the gush of a torrent at play, In the rocks of its wilderness caught me—and strong As the wings of an eagle, it whirled me away. Vain, vain were my struggles—the circle had won me, Round and round in its dance the wild element spun me. “And I called on my God, and my God heard my prayer, In the strength of my need, in the gasp of my breathAnd showed me a crag that rose up from the lair. And I clung to it, trembling--and bailled the death! 66 And, safe in the perils around me, behold “Below, at the foot of that precipice drear, Spread the gloomy, and purple, and pathless obscure ! A Silence of Horror that slept on the ear, That the eye more appalled might the Horror endure ! Salamander-snake-dragon-vast reptiles that dwell In the deep-coiled about the grim jaws of their hell. “ Dark-crawled-glided dark the unspeakable swarms, Like masses unshapen, made life hideously- Here the Hammer-fish darkened the dark of the sea And with teeth grinning white, and a menacing motion, Went the terrible Shark—the Hyena of Ocean. “ There I hung, and the awe gathered icily o’er me, So far from the earth where man's help there was none ! The One Human Thing, with the Goblins before me Alone—in a loneness so ghastly-ALONE! Fathom-deep from man's eye in the speechless profound, With the death of the Main and the Monsters around. “Methought, as I gazed through the darkness, that A hundred-limbed creature caught sight of its prey, And darted—0 God! from the far-flaming bough Of the coral, I swept on the horrible way; And it seized me, the wave with its wrath and its roar, It seized me to save-King, the danger is o'er !" On the youth gazed the monarch, and marveled-quoth he, “Bold Diver, the goblet I promised is thine, And this ring will I give, a fresh guerdon to thee, Never jewels more precious shone up from the mine; If thou'lt bring me fresh tidings, and venture again, To say what lies bid in the innermost main !” 66 Then outspake the danghter in tençler emotion, Ah! father, my father, what more can there rest? Enough of this sport with the pitiless oceanHe has served thee as none would, thyself hast con fest. If nothing can slake thy wild thirst of desire, Be your knights not, at least, put to shame by the squire !" The king seized the goblet-he swung it on high, And whirling, it fell in the roar of the tide : “But bring back that goblet again to my eye, And I'll hold thee the dearest that rides by my side! And thine arms shall embrace as thy bride. I decree, The maiden whose pity now pleadeth for thee." In his heart, as he listened, there leapt the wild joyAnd the hope and the love through his eyes spoke in fire, On that bloom, on that blush, gazed, delighted, the boy; The maiden she faints at the feet of her sire! Here the guerdon divine, there the danger beneath; He resolves !--To the strife with the life and the death! They hear the loud surges sweep back in their swell; Their coming the thunder-sound heralds along! Fond eyes yet are tracking the spot where he fell They come, the wild waters, in tumult and throng, Rearing up to the cliff-roaring back as before ; But no wave ever brought the lost youth to the shore. MORNING HYMN TO MOUNT BLANC. (COLERIDGE.) Risest from forth thy silent sea of pines, O dread and silent mount! I gazed upon thee, Awake, my soul ! not only passive praise Forever shattered and the same forever? Ye ice-falls ! ye that from the mountain's brow |