XXIII.

And soon is gone,—­or nothing but a faint
And failing image in the eye of thought,
That mocks his model with an after-paint,
And stains an atom like the shape she sought;
Then with her earnest vows she hopes to fee
The old and hoary majesty of sea.

XXIV.

“O King of waves, and brother of high Jove,
Preserve my sumless venture there afloat;
A woman’s heart, and its whole wealth of love,
Are all embark’d upon that little boat;
Nay!—­but two loves, two lives, a double fate,—­
A perilous voyage for so dear a freight.”

XXV.

“If impious mariners be stain’d with crime,
Shake not in awful rage thy hoary locks;
Lay by thy storms until another time,
Lest my frail bark be dash’d against the rocks: 
O rather smooth thy deeps, that he may fly
Like Love himself, upon a seeming sky!”

XXVI.

“Let all thy herded monsters sleep beneath,
Nor gore him with crook’d tusks, or wreathed horns;
Let no fierce sharks destroy him with their teeth,
Nor spine-fish wound him with their venom’d thorns;
But if he faint, and timely succor lack,
Let ruthful dolphins rest him on their back.”

XXVII.

“Let no false dimpling whirlpools suck him in,
Nor slimy quicksands smother his sweet breath;
Let no jagg’d corals tear his tender skin,
Nor mountain billows bury him in death";—­
And with that thought forestalling her own fears,
She drowned his painted image in her tears.

XXVIII.

By this, the climbing Sun, with rest repair’d,
Look’d through the gold embrasures of the sky,
And ask’d the drowsy world how she had fared;—­
The drowsy world shone brighten’d in reply;
And smiling off her fogs, his slanting beam
Spied young Leander in the middle stream.

XXXI.

His face was pallid, but the hectic morn
Had hung a lying crimson on his cheeks,
And slanderous sparkles in his eyes forlorn;
So death lies ambush’d in consumptive streaks;
But inward grief was writhing o’er its task,
As heart-sick jesters weep behind the mask.

XXX.

He thought of Hero and the lost delight,
Her last embracings, and the space between;
He thought of Hero and the future night,
Her speechless rapture and enamor’d mien,
When, lo! before him, scarce two galleys’ space,
His thoughts confronted with another face!

XXXI.

Her aspect’s like a moon, divinely fair,
But makes the midnight darker that it lies on;
’Tis so beclouded with her coal-black hair
That densely skirts her luminous horizon,
Making her doubly fair, thus darkly set,
As marble lies advantaged upon jet.