(From Canto Ii.)

Oh fly with me! ’tis Passion’s hour; The world is gone to sleep; And nothing wakes in brake or bower, But those who love and weep: This is the golden time and weather, When songs and sighs go out together, And minstrels pledge the rosy wine To lutes like this, and lips like thine!

Oh fly with me! my courser’s flight Is like the rushing breeze, And the kind moon has said “Good night!” The lover’s voice--the loved one’s ear-- There’s nothing else to speak or hear; And we will say, as on we glide, That nothing lives on earth beside!

Oh fly with me! and we will wing Our white skiff o’er the waves, And hear the Tritons revelling Among their coral caves; The envious Mermaid, when we pass, Shall cease her song, and drop her glass; For it will break her very heart, To see how fair and dear thou art.

Oh fly with me! and we will dwell Far over the green seas, Where sadness rings no parting knell For moments such as these! Where Italy’s unclouded skies Look brightly down on brighter eyes, Or where the wave-wed City smiles, Enthroned upon her hundred isles.

Oh fly with me! by these sweet strings Swept o’er by Passion’s fingers, By all the rocks, and vales, and springs Where Memory lives and lingers, By all the tongue can never tell, By all the heart has told so well, By all that has been or may be, And by Love’s self--Oh fly with me!

IV.

Fare thee well, fare thee well, Most beautiful of earthly things! I will not bid thy spirit stay, Nor link to earth those glittering wings, That burst like light away! I know that thou art gone to dwell In the sunny home of the fresh day-beam, Before decay’s unpitying tread Hath crept upon the dearest dream That ever came and fled; Fare thee well, fare thee well; And go thy way, all pure and fair, Into the starry firmament; And wander there with the spirits of air, As bright and innocent!

Fare thee well, fare thee well! Strange feet will be upon thy clay, And never stop to sigh or sorrow; Yet many wept for thee to-day, And one will weep to-morrow: Alas! that melancholy knell Shall often wake my wondering ear, And thou shalt greet me for awhile, Too beautiful to make me fear, Too sad to let me smile! Fare thee well, fare thee well! I know that heaven for thee is won! And yet I feel I would resign Whole ages of my life, for one-- One little hour, of thine!

Fare thee well, fare thee well! See, I have been to the sweetest bowers, And culled from garden and from heath The tenderest of all tender flowers, And blended in my wreath The violet and the blue harebell, And one frail rose in its earliest bloom; Alas! I meant it for thy hair, And now I fling it on thy tomb, To weep and wither there! Fare ye well, fare ye well! Sleep, sleep, my love, in fragrant shade, Droop, droop, to-night, thou blushing token; A fairer flower shall never fade, Nor a fonder heart be broken!

V.