Page:The complete poetical works of Percy Bysshe Shelley, including materials never before printed in any edition of the poems.djvu/402

xxv

She spoke and wept:—the dark and azure well

Sparkled beneath the shower of her bright tears,
And every little circlet where they fell
Flung to the cavern-roof inconstant spheres
And intertangled lines of light:—a knell245
Of sobbing voices came upon her ears
From those departing Forms, o'er the serene
Of the white streams and of the forest green.

xxvi

All day the wizard lady sate aloof.

Spelling out scrolls of dread antiquity, 250
Under the cavern's fountain-lighted roof;
Or broidering the pictured poesy
Of some high tale upon her growing woof,
Which the sweet splendour of her smiles could dye
In hues outshining heaven—and ever she 255
Added some grace to the wrought poesy.

xxvii

While on her hearth lay blazing many a piece

Of sandal wood, rare gums, and cinnamon;
Men scarcely know how beautiful fire is—
Each flame of it is as a precious stone 260
Dissolved in ever-moving light, and this
Belongs to each and ail who gaze upon.^[1]
The Witch beheld it not, for in her hand
She held a woof that dimmed the burning brand.

xxviii

This lady never slept, but lay in trance265

All night within the fountain—as in sleep.
Its emerald crags glowed in her beauty's glance;
Through the green splendour of the water deep
She saw the constellations reel and dance
Like fire-flies—and withal did ever keep270
The tenour of her contemplations calm,
With open eyes, closed feet, and folded palm.

xxix

And when the whirlwinds and the clouds descended

From the white pinnacles of that cold hill,
She passed at dewfall to a space extended,275
Where in a lawn of flowering asphodel
Amid a wood of pines and cedars blended,
There yawned an inextinguishable well
Of crimson fire—full even to the brim,
And overflowing all the margin trim.280

1. upon so all MSS. and edd.: thereon cj. Rossetti.