The Works of Lord Byron Volume VI Part 26

They gazed upon the glittering sea below, Whence the broad Moon rose circling into sight; They heard the waves' splash, and the wind so low, And saw each other's dark eyes darting light Into each other--and, beholding this, Their lips drew near, and clung into a kiss;

CLx.x.xVI.

A long, long kiss, a kiss of Youth, and Love, And Beauty, all concentrating like rays Into one focus, kindled from above; Such kisses as belong to early days, Where Heart, and Soul, and Sense, in concert move, And the blood's lava, and the pulse a blaze, Each kiss a heart-quake,--for a kiss's strength, I think, it must be reckoned by its length.

CLx.x.xVII.

By length I mean duration; theirs endured Heaven knows how long--no doubt they never reckoned; And if they had, they could not have secured The sum of their sensations to a second: They had not spoken, but they felt allured, As if their souls and lips each other beckoned, Which, being joined, like swarming bees they clung-- Their hearts the flowers from whence the honey sprung.[ca]

CLx.x.xVIII.

They were alone, but not alone as they Who shut in chambers think it loneliness; The silent Ocean, and the starlight bay, The twilight glow, which momently grew less, The voiceless sands, and dropping caves, that lay Around them, made them to each other press, As if there were no life beneath the sky Save theirs, and that their life could never die.

CLx.x.xIX.

They feared no eyes nor ears on that lone beach; They felt no terrors from the night; they were All in all to each other: though their speech Was broken words, they _thought_ a language there,-- And all the burning tongues the Pa.s.sions teach[cb]

Found in one sigh the best interpreter Of Nature's oracle--first love,--that all Which Eve has left her daughters since her fall.

CXC.

Haidee spoke not of scruples, asked no vows, Nor offered any; she had never heard Of plight and promises to be a spouse, Or perils by a loving maid incurred; She was all which pure Ignorance allows, And flew to her young mate like a young bird; And, never having dreamt of falsehood, she Had not one word to say of constancy.

CXCI.

She loved, and was beloved--she adored, And she was wors.h.i.+pped after Nature's fas.h.i.+on-- Their intense souls, into each other poured, If souls could die, had perished in that pa.s.sion,-- But by degrees their senses were restored, Again to be o'ercome, again to dash on; And, beating 'gainst _his_ bosom, Haidee's heart Felt as if never more to beat apart.

CXCII.

Alas! they were so young, so beautiful, So lonely, loving, helpless, and the hour Was that in which the Heart is always full, And, having o'er itself no further power, Prompts deeds Eternity can not annul, But pays off moments in an endless shower Of h.e.l.l-fire--all prepared for people giving Pleasure or pain to one another living.

CXCIII.

Alas! for Juan and Haidee! they were So loving and so lovely--till then never, Excepting our first parents, such a pair Had run the risk of being d.a.m.ned for ever: And Haidee, being devout as well as fair, Had, doubtless, heard about the Stygian river, And h.e.l.l and Purgatory--but forgot Just in the very crisis she should not.

CXCIV.

They look upon each other, and their eyes Gleam in the moonlight; and her white arm clasps Round Juan's head, and his around her lies Half buried in the tresses which it grasps; She sits upon his knee, and drinks his sighs, He hers, until they end in broken gasps; And thus they form a group that's quite antique, Half naked, loving, natural, and Greek.

CXCV.

And when those deep and burning moments pa.s.sed, And Juan sunk to sleep within her arms, She slept not, but all tenderly, though fast, Sustained his head upon her bosom's charms; And now and then her eye to Heaven is cast, And then on the pale cheek her breast now warms, Pillowed on her o'erflowing heart, which pants With all it granted, and with all it grants.[cc]

CXCVI.

An infant when it gazes on a light, A child the moment when it drains the breast, A devotee when soars the Host in sight, An Arab with a stranger for a guest, A sailor when the prize has struck in fight, A miser filling his most h.o.a.rded chest, Feel rapture; but not such true joy are reaping As they who watch o'er what they love while sleeping.

CXCVII.

For there it lies so tranquil, so beloved, All that it hath of Life with us is living; So gentle, stirless, helpless, and unmoved, And all unconscious of the joy 't is giving; All it hath felt, inflicted, pa.s.sed, and proved, Hushed into depths beyond the watcher's diving: There lies the thing we love with all its errors And all its charms, like Death without its terrors.

CXCVIII.

The Lady watched her lover--and that hour Of Love's, and Night's, and Ocean's solitude O'erflowed her soul with their united power; Amidst the barren sand and rocks so rude She and her wave-worn love had made their bower, Where nought upon their pa.s.sion could intrude, And all the stars that crowded the blue s.p.a.ce Saw nothing happier than her glowing face.

CXCIX.

Alas! the love of Women! it is known To be a lovely and a fearful thing; For all of theirs upon that die is thrown, And if 't is lost, Life hath no more to bring To them but mockeries of the past alone, And their revenge is as the tiger's spring, Deadly, and quick, and crus.h.i.+ng; yet, as real Torture is theirs--what they inflict they feel.

CC.

They are right; for Man, to man so oft unjust, Is always so to Women: one sole bond Awaits them--treachery is all their trust; Taught to conceal their bursting hearts despond Over their idol, till some wealthier l.u.s.t Buys them in marriage--and what rests beyond?

A thankless husband--next, a faithless lover-- Then dressing, nursing, praying--and all's over.

CCI.

Some take a lover, some take drams or prayers, Some mind their household, others dissipation, Some run away, and but exchange their cares, Losing the advantage of a virtuous station; Few changes e'er can better their affairs, Theirs being an unnatural situation, From the dull palace to the dirty hovel:[cd]

Some play the devil, and then write a novel.[164]

CCII.

Haidee was Nature's bride, and knew not this; Haidee was Pa.s.sion's child, born where the Sun Showers triple light, and scorches even the kiss Of his gazelle-eyed daughters; she was one Made but to love, to feel that she was his Who was her chosen: what was said or done Elsewhere was nothing. She had nought to fear, Hope, care, nor love, beyond,--her heart beat _here_.

CCIII.

And oh! that quickening of the heart, that beat!

How much it costs us! yet each rising throb Is in its cause as its effect so sweet, That Wisdom, ever on the watch to rob Joy of its alchemy, and to repeat Fine truths; even Conscience, too, has a tough job To make us understand each good old maxim, So good--I wonder Castlereagh don't tax 'em.

CCIV.

And now 't was done--on the lone sh.o.r.e were plighted Their hearts; the stars, their nuptial torches, shed Beauty upon the beautiful they lighted: Ocean their witness, and the cave their bed, By their own feelings hallowed and united, Their priest was Solitude, and they were wed:[ce]

And they were happy--for to their young eyes Each was an angel, and earth Paradise.

CCV.

Oh, Love! of whom great Caesar was the suitor, t.i.tus the master,[165] Antony the slave, Horace, Catullus, scholars--Ovid tutor-- Sappho the sage blue-stocking, in whose grave All those may leap who rather would be neuter-- (Leucadia's rock still overlooks the wave)-- Oh, Love! thou art the very G.o.d of evil, For, after all, we cannot call thee Devil.

CCVI.

Thou mak'st the chaste connubial state precarious, And jestest with the brows of mightiest men: Caesar and Pompey, Mahomet, Belisarius,[166]

Have much employed the Muse of History's pen: Their lives and fortunes were extremely various, Such worthies Time will never see again; Yet to these four in three things the same luck holds, They all were heroes, conquerors, and cuckolds.

CCVII.

Thou mak'st philosophers; there's Epicurus And Aristippus, a material crew!

Who to immoral courses would allure us By theories quite practicable too; If only from the Devil they would insure us, How pleasant were the maxim (not quite new), "Eat, drink, and love, what can the rest avail us?"

So said the royal sage Sardanapalus.[167]

CCVIII.