And lo! from the heart of that far-floating gloom, Like the wing of the cygnet-what gleams on the sea? Lo! an arm and a neck glancing up from the tomb! Steering stalwart and shoreward. O joy, it is he! The left hand is lifted in triumph; behold, And he breathed deep, and he breathed long, day. They gaze on each other-they shout as they throng "He lives-lo, the ocean has rendered its prey! And safe from the whirlpool and free from the grave, Comes back to the daylight the soul of the brave!" And he comes, with the crowd in their clamour and glee; And the goblet his daring has won from the water, He lifts to the king as he sinks on his kneeAnd the king from her maidens has beckoned his daughter. She pours to the boy the bright wine which they bring, 75 So 85 And thus spoke the Diver-" Long life to the King! "Happy they whom the rose-hues of daylight rejoice, The air and the sky that to mortals are given! May the horror below nevermore find a voiceNor man stretch too far the wide mercy of heaven! Nevermore, nevermore may he lift from the sight The veil which is woven with terror and night! Quick brightening like lightning, the ocean rushed o'er me, Wild floating, borne down fathom-deep from the day; Till a torrent rushed out on the torrents that bore me, And doubled the tempest that whirled me away. Vain, vain was my struggle-the circle had won me, Round and round in its dance the mad element" spun me. "From the deep, then I called upon God, and He heard me ; In the dread of my need, He vouchsafed to mine eye A rock jutting out from the grave that interred me; 90 sprung there, I clung there, and death And lo where the goblet gleamed through the By a coral reef saved from the far Fathomless. "Below, at the foot of that precipice drear, A silence of horror that slept on the ear, Salamander,12 snake, dragon-vast reptiles that In the deep-coiled about the grim jaws of their hell. "Dark crawled, glided dark the unspeakable. swarms, Clumped together in masses, mis-shapen and vast; Here clung and here bristled the fashionless forms; Here the dark moving hulk of the hammerfish passed; And with teeth grinning white, and a menacing motion, Went the terrible shark-the hyena of ocean. "There I hung, and the awe gathered icily o'er me, So far from the earth, where man's help there was none ! ΠΙΟ 115 120 The one human thing, with the goblins before me- Alone-in a loneness so ghastly-ALONE! Deep under the reach of the sweet living breath, And begirt with the broods of the desert of Death. "Methought, as I gazed through the darkness, that now IT saw a dread hundred-limbed creature-its prey! And darted, devouring; I sprang from the bough 125 Of the coral, and swept on my horrible way; 130 And the whirl of the mighty wave seized me once more; It seized me to save me, and dash to the shore." On the youth gazed the monarch, and marvelled; 13 quoth he, "Bold diver, the goblet I promised is thine; And this ring I will give, a fresh guerdon to thee Never jewels more precious shone up from the mine If thou'lt bring me fresh tidings, and venture again, Το say what lies hid in the innermost main!" Then out spake the daughter in tender emotion 135 |