Leaned on the table and at intervals
Shuddered to hear through the deserted halls
And corridors the thrilling shrieks which came 185
Upon the breeze of night, that shook the flame
Of every torch and taper as it swept
From out the chamber where the women kept;—­
Their tears fell on the dear companion cold
Of pleasures now departed; then was knolled 190
The bell of death, and soon the priests arrived,
And finding Death their penitent had shrived,
Returned like ravens from a corpse whereon
A vulture has just feasted to the bone. 
And then the mourning women came.—­ 195

...

THE DIRGE.

Old winter was gone
In his weakness back to the mountains hoar,
And the spring came down
From the planet that hovers upon the shore

Where the sea of sunlight encroaches 200
On the limits of wintry night;—­
If the land, and the air, and the sea,
Rejoice not when spring approaches,
We did not rejoice in thee,
Ginevra! 205

She is still, she is cold
On the bridal couch,
One step to the white deathbed,
And one to the bier,
And one to the charnel—­and one, oh where? 210
The dark arrow fled
In the noon.

Ere the sun through heaven once more has rolled,
The rats in her heart
Will have made their nest, 215
And the worms be alive in her golden hair,
While the Spirit that guides the sun,
Sits throned in his flaming chair,
She shall sleep.

NOTES:  22 Was]Were cj.  Rossetti.old 26 ever 1824; even editions 1839. 37 Bitter editions 1839; Better 1824. 63 wanting in 1824. 103 quiet rest cj.  A.C.  Bradley; quiet and rest 1824. 129 winds]lands cj.  Forman; waves, sands or strands cj.  Rossetti. 167 On]In cj.  Rossetti.

***

EVENING:  PONTE AL MARE, PISA

[Published by Mrs. Shelley, “Posthumous Poems”, 1824.  There is a draft amongst the Boscombe manuscripts.]

1. 
The sun is set; the swallows are asleep;
The bats are flitting fast in the gray air;
The slow soft toads out of damp corners creep,
And evening’s breath, wandering here and there
Over the quivering surface of the stream, 5
Wakes not one ripple from its summer dream.

2. 
There is no dew on the dry grass to-night,
Nor damp within the shadow of the trees;
The wind is intermitting, dry, and light;
And in the inconstant motion of the breeze 10
The dust and straws are driven up and down,
And whirled about the pavement of the town.