IV.

Thou Paradise of exiles! oh, thou Land,

Whose very air oblivion brings to those
Who would forget the past! thy hills expand

Around, and girdling, from the world enclose:
The odour wafted from the rose

very

Gives balm to wounded spirits, and a healing

Softness, and peace, which is itself repose;

From the blue sky above is shed a feeling

Upon the trancèd sense like softest music stealing!

V.

But lo, yon empyrean spread beneath,

That marvel of the earth, fair Naples' bay!

Those Waters floating like heaven's azure breath :

And laving shores and towns, where to delay

All occupation, basked in the sun's ray,

While listening to their dreamy melody,

Are life's sole ends-what worthier have they?

Is it not better thus, than vainly sigh

For their Day's sun eclipsed, heart-wakening liberty?

VI.

And azure Capri lies in the deep Sea,

Rent from her parent mountains, all alone;

Like some bright Image of futurity,

Hued by our fondest fancies, and the throne

Where from the world young hope and love are flown ;

So meets the eye that spirit-haunted isle!

Alas, the present only is our own;

Yet the heart still is soothed by its own wile,

And loves its dream of joy, that flatters to beguile.

VII.

O thou Parthenopè ! no rainbow Vision:

I see thee an embodied Form divine,

The haunting Spirit of this land elysian :

Lo, 'midst yon mountains thou hast reared thy

shrine;

There, leaning 'gainst the oak, thou dost recline,

Around thy brows the purple tendrils clung,

Pressed in thy hand the rich cup's mantling wine; A wilderness of sweets above thee hung;

Beneath thy feet the flowers in wild profusion flung.

VIII.

And oh that form so delicately moulded,

So flowing, flexile, goddess-like, and fair,
Such as in Sleep are silently unfolded,
When from their mansions star-like forms repair
To realise the shapes we dream of there;

Thy smile-the very birth of light! thine eyes,
Caught from yon heaven their tenderest azure, where

The heart's lost happiness deep buried lies;

Thy brow-beneath whose arch Love ever homeward

flies!

IX.

Nymph of immortal Beauty! round thee throwing

A halo, which thy own reflection gives,

Soft as the mellowed flood of moonlight, glowing

Through the rich veil of Autumn's cincturing leaves!

The poetry of colours! such as weaves

Iris, or circle round the Lord of Day,

When Twilight from his presence life receives; Dost thou not still shed down thine influence, say, On those who seek thy shrine for ever-as to-day?—

X.

Thou dost thou art the Spirit of pure Love

Dreamed by the sage of old, which filled the Whole;

Whose inspirations quickening from above,

Entering, built up, yea, made the poet's soul!
Until his song, poured forth without control,
Became as deathless: thou art she, whose shrine
Still stands where Baia's azure waters roll;

In her air still is felt thy breath divine,

As mournfully thou sigh'st o'er haunts no longer thine!

MAL DU PAYS:

FROM THE BAY OF NAPLES.

I sit upon a craggy stone

1.

Beneath the vine-embosomed hill;

The Waves are wildly round me thrown,

Each revelling in its own sweet will:

And blue as Ocean is the sky,

Lit by the Sun's all-cloudless eye!

2.

The Spirit of intense delight

Lives here; the air is joy revealing:

Vesuvius, from his purple height,

Seems basking in the common feeling:

One chain of harmony and love

Links all below-around-above.

3.

And wherefore hangs this cloud of sadness

Upon my heart, when all is gay

y?

Why lights not upon me the gladness

That animates this glorious day?

It is that on this craggy stone

I feel the only thing-alone.

4.

Yet heaven on earth around me lies!

Those sands-the blue waves dancing o'er:

There is no dream of Paradise

Can rival this delicious shore!

The very winds that fragrance bear

Seem breath of incense borne from there.

R