XLIII.
The juggling sesek vanished from his sight;
No alien object did his trance confuse;
So rang the hum, so danced the colors bright,
The hues seemed music, and the music hues;
Still swelled the sounds, still livelier flashed the light;
His limbs obedience to his will refuse;
He strove to rise, he yielded to affright,
Like one be-nightmared in the dreams of night.
XLIV.
"Whence this dread power that steals my strength away?
This creeping torpor, this Lethean dew?
This strange wild rapture mingling with dismay?
Ye dangerous beauties! vanish from my view;
Creatures of Evil, come ye to betray
One victim more, and his sad soul subdue
Unto the Tempter, whose infernal spell
Brought death to Eden, and gave joy to hell?
XLV.
"And shall my labors thus inglorious end?
Shall my defeat give him a triumph new?"
The thought was fire, and did new vigor lend;
Back rushed his soul through every avenue.
A seeming cloud did from his brain ascend,
The magic colors vanished from his view;
And at his feet, in many a supple sweep,
The odious reptile coiled him for the leap.
XLVI.
Swift darts the tongue, the horrid jaws unfold;—
Williams beheld—struck—cleft the head away:
In many a loosening coil the body rolled,
Collapsed, grew still, and there extended lay,
