NOTES:  3834 native home edition 1818. 3967 earthquakes edition 1818. 4176 reptiles’]reptiles edition 1818.

CANTO 11.

1. 
She saw me not—­she heard me not—­alone 4225
Upon the mountain’s dizzy brink she stood;
She spake not, breathed not, moved not—­there was thrown
Over her look, the shadow of a mood
Which only clothes the heart in solitude,
A thought of voiceless depth;—­she stood alone, 4230
Above, the Heavens were spread;—­below, the flood
Was murmuring in its caves;—­the wind had blown
Her hair apart, through which her eyes and forehead shone.

2. 
A cloud was hanging o’er the western mountains;
Before its blue and moveless depth were flying 4235
Gray mists poured forth from the unresting fountains
Of darkness in the North:—­the day was dying:—­
Sudden, the sun shone forth, its beams were lying
Like boiling gold on Ocean, strange to see,
And on the shattered vapours, which defying 4240
The power of light in vain, tossed restlessly
In the red Heaven, like wrecks in a tempestuous sea.

3. 
It was a stream of living beams, whose bank
On either side by the cloud’s cleft was made;
And where its chasms that flood of glory drank, 4245
Its waves gushed forth like fire, and as if swayed
By some mute tempest, rolled on HER; the shade
Of her bright image floated on the river
Of liquid light, which then did end and fade—­
Her radiant shape upon its verge did shiver; 4250
Aloft, her flowing hair like strings of flame did quiver.

4. 
I stood beside her, but she saw me not—­
She looked upon the sea, and skies, and earth;
Rapture, and love, and admiration wrought
A passion deeper far than tears, or mirth, 4255
Or speech, or gesture, or whate’er has birth
From common joy; which with the speechless feeling
That led her there united, and shot forth
From her far eyes a light of deep revealing,
All but her dearest self from my regard concealing. 4260

5. 
Her lips were parted, and the measured breath
Was now heard there;—­her dark and intricate eyes
Orb within orb, deeper than sleep or death,
Absorbed the glories of the burning skies,
Which, mingling with her heart’s deep ecstasies, 4265
Burst from her looks and gestures;—­and a light
Of liquid tenderness, like love, did rise
From her whole frame, an atmosphere which quite
Arrayed her in its beams, tremulous and soft and bright.