Sophocles° long ago °15 Heard it on the Ægæan,° and it brought °16 Into his mind the turbid ebb and flow Of human misery; we Find also in the sound a thought, Hearing it by this distant northern sea. 20
The Sea of Faith Was once, too, at the full, and round earth's shore Lay like the folds of a bright girdle furl'd. But now I only hear Its melancholy, long, withdrawing roar, 25 Retreating, to the breath Of the night-wind, down the vast edges drear And naked shingles of the world. Ah, love, let us be true To one another! for the world, which seems 30 To lie before us like a land of dreams, So various, so beautiful, so new, Hath really neither joy, nor love, nor light, Nor certitude, nor peace, nor help for pain; And we are here as on a darkling plain 35 Swept with confused alarms of struggle and flight, Where ignorant armies clash by night.
Hark! ah, the nightingale-- The tawny-throated! Hark, from that moonlit cedar what a burst! What triumph! hark!--what pain°! °4
O wanderer from a Grecian shore,° °5 Still, after many years, in distant lands, Still nourishing in thy bewilder'd brain That wild, unquench'd, deep-sunken, old-world pain°-- °8 Say, will it never heal? And can this fragrant lawn 10 With its cool trees, and night, And the sweet, tranquil Thames, And moonshine, and the dew, To thy rack'd heart and brain Afford no balm? 15
Dost thou to-night behold, Here, through the moonlight on this English grass, The unfriendly palace in the Thracian wild°? °18 Dost thou again peruse With hot cheeks and sear'd eyes 20 The too clear web, and thy dumb sister's shame°? °21 Dost thou once more assay Thy flight, and feel come over thee, Poor fugitive, the feathery change Once more, and once more seem to make resound 25 With love and hate, triumph and agony, Lone Daulis,° and the high Cephissian vale°? °27 Listen, Eugenia-- How thick the bursts come crowding through the leaves°! °29 Again--thou hearest? 30 Eternal passion! Eternal pain°! °32
What mortal, when he saw, Life's voyage done, his heavenly Friend, Could ever yet dare tell him fearlessly: "I have kept uninfringed my nature's law°; °4 The inly-written chart° thou gavest me, 5 To guide me, I have steer'd by to the end"?
Ah! let us make no claim, On life's incognisable° sea, °8 To too exact a steering of our way; Let us not fret and fear to miss our aim, 10 If some fair coast have lured us to make stay, Or some friend hail'd us to keep company.