The Death-Wake; or Lunacy.

CHIMERA I.

An anthem of a sister choristry!

And like a windward murmur of the sea,

O'er silver shells, so solemnly it falls!

A dying music shrouded in deep walls,

That bury its wild breathings! And the moon,

Of glow-worm hue, like virgin in sad swoon,

Lies coldly on the bosom of a cloud,

Until the elf-winds, that are wailing loud,

Do minister unto her sickly trance,

Fanning the life into her countenance;

And there are pale stars sparkling, far and few

In the deep chasms of everlasting blue,

Unmarshall'd and ungather'd, one and one,

Like outposts of the lunar garrison.

A train of holy fathers windeth by

The arches of an aged sanctuary,

With cowl, and scapular, and rosary,

On to the sainted oriel, where stood,

By the rich altar, a fair sisterhood—

A weeping group of virgins! one or two

Bent forward to a bier, of solemn hue,

Whereon a bright and stately coffin lay,

With its black pall flung over:—Agathè

Was on the lid—a name. And who?—No more!

'Twas only Agathè.

A lonely monk is loitering within

The dusky area, at the altar seen,

Like a pale spirit kneeling in the light

Of the cold moon, that looketh wan and white

Through the deviced oriel; and he lays

His hands upon his bosom, with a gaze

To the chill earth. He had the youthful look

Which heartfelt woe had wasted, and he shook

At every gust of the unholy breeze,

That enter'd through the time-worn crevices.

A score of summers only o'er his brow

Had pass'd—and it was summer, even now,

The one-and-twentieth—from a birth of tears,

Over a waste of melancholy years!

And that brow was as wan as if it were

Of snowy marble, and the raven hair

That would have cluster'd over, was all shorn,

And his fine features stricken pale as morn.

And who was he? A monk. And those who knew,

Yclept him Julio; but they were few:

And others named him as a nameless one,—

A dark, sad-hearted being, who had none

But bitter feelings, and a cast of sadness,

That fed the wildest of all curses—madness!

Oh! he was wearied of this passing scene!

But loved not death: his purpose was between

Life and the grave; and it would vibrate there,

Like a wild bird that floated far and fair

Betwixt the sun and sea!

He went, and came,

And thought, and slept, and still awoke the same,—

A strange, strange youth; and he would look all night

Upon the moon and stars, and count the flight

Of the sea waves, and let the evening wind

Play with his raven tresses, or would bind

Grottoes of birch, wherein to sit and sing:

And peasant girls would find him sauntering,

To gaze upon their features, as they met,

In laughter, under some green arboret.

At last, he became monk, and, on his knees,

Said holy prayers, and with wild penances

Made sad atonement; and the solemn whim,

That, like a shadow, loiter'd over him,

Wore off, even like a shadow. He was cursed

With none of the mad thoughts that were at first

The poison of his quiet; but he grew

To love the world and its wild laughter too,

As he had known before; and wish'd again

To join the very mirth he hated then!

He durst not break the vow—he durst not be

The one he would—and his heart's harmony

Became a tide of sorrow. Even so,

He felt hope die,—in madness and in woe!

But there came one—and a most lovely one

As ever to the warm light of the sun

Threw back her tresses,—a fair sister girl,

With a brow changing between snow and pearl,

And the blue eyes of sadness, fill'd with dew

Of tears,—like Heaven's own melancholy blue,—

So beautiful, so tender; and her form

Was graceful as a rainbow in a storm,

Scattering gladness on the face of sorrow—

Oh! I had fancied of the hues that borrow

Their brightness from the sun; but she was bright

In her own self,—a mystery of light!

And this was Agathè, young Agathè,

A motherless, fair girl: and many a day

She wept for her lost parent. It was sad

Almost to think she might again be glad,

Her beauty was so chaste, amid the fall

Of her bright tears. Yet, in her father's hall,

She had lived almost sorrowless her days:

But he felt no affection for the gaze

Of his fair girl; and when she fondly smiled,

He bade no father's welcome to the child,

But even told his wish, and will'd it done,

For her to be sad-hearted—and a nun!

And so it was. She took the dreary veil,

A hopeless girl! and the bright flush grew pale

Upon her cheek: she felt, as summer feels

The winds of autumn and the winter chills,

That darken his fair suns.—It was away,

Feeding on dreams, the heart of Agathè!

The vesper prayers were said, and the last hymn

Sung to the Holy Virgin. In the dim,

Gray aisle was heard a solitary tread,

As of one musing sadly on the dead—

'Twas Julio; it was his wont to be

Often alone within the sanctuary;

But now, not so—another: it was she!

Kneeling in all her beauty, like a saint

Before a crucifix; but sad and faint

The tone of her devotion, as the trill

Of a moss-burden'd, melancholy rill.

And Julio stood before her;—'twas as yet

The hour of the pale twilight—and they met

Each other's gaze, till either seem'd the hue

Of deepest crimson; but the ladye threw

Her veil above her features, and stole by

Like a bright cloud, with sadness and a sigh!

And she was gone:—yet they met many a time

In the lone chapel, after vesper chime—

They met in love and fear.

One weary day,

And Julio saw not his loved Agathè;

She was not in the choir of sisterhood

That sang the evening anthem, and he stood

Like one that listen'd breathlessly awhile;

But stranger voices chanted through the aisle.

It was the third sad eve, he heard it said,

"Poor Julio! thy Agathè is dead."

She died, like zephyr falling amid flowers!

Like to a star within the twilight hours

Of morning—and she was not! Some have thought

The Lady Abbess gave her a mad draught,

That stole into her heart, and sadly rent

The fine chords of that holy instrument,

Until its music falter'd fast away,

And she—she died,—the lovely Agathè!

Again, and through the arras of the gloom

Are the pale breezes moaning: by her tomb

Bends Julio, like a phantom, and his eye

Is fallen, as the moon-borne tides, that lie

At ebb within the sea. Oh! he is wan,

As winter skies are wan, like ages gone,

And stars unseen for paleness; it is cast,

As foliage in the raving of the blast,

All his fair bloom of thoughts! Is the moon chill,

That in the dark clouds she is mantled still?

And over its proud arch hath Heaven flung

A scarf of darkness? Agathè was young!

He wields a heavy mattock in his hands,

And over him a lonely lanthorn stands

On a near niche, shedding a sickly fall

Of light upon a marble pedestal,

Whereon is chisel'd rudely, the essay

Of untaught tool, "Hic jacet Agathè!"

And Julio hath bent him down in speed,

Like one that doeth an unholy deed.

And he is flinging the dark, chilly mould

Over the gorgeous pavement: 'tis a cold,

Sad grave, and there is many a relic there

Of chalky bones, which, in the wasting air,

Fell mouldering away; and he would dash

His mattock through them, with a cursed clash,

That made the lone aisle echo. But anon

He fell upon a skull,—a haggard one,

With its teeth set, and the great orbless eye

Revolving darkness, like eternity—

And in his hand he held it, till it grew

To have the fleshy features and the hue

Of life. He gazed, and gazed, and it became

Like to his Agathè—all, all the same!

He drew it nearer,—the cold, bony thing!—

To kiss the worm-wet lips. "Ay! let me cling—

Cling to thee now, for ever!" but a breath

Of rank corruption from its jaws of death

Went to his nostrils, and he madly laugh'd,

And dash'd it over on the altar shaft,

Which the new risen moon, in her gray light,

Had fondly flooded, beautifully bright!

And there she is; and Julio bends o'er

The sleeping girl,—a willow on the shore

Of a Dead Sea! that steepeth its far bough

Into the bitter waters,—even now

Taking a foretaste of the awful trance

That was to pass on his own countenance!

Yes! yes! and he is holding his pale lips

Over her brow; the shade of an eclipse

Is passing to his heart, and to his eye,

That is not tearful; but the light will die,

Leaving it like a moon within a mist,—

The vision of a spell-bound visionist!

He breathed a cold kiss on her ashy cheek,

That left no trace—no flush—no crimson streak,

But was as bloodless as a marble stone,

Susceptible of silent waste alone.

And on her brow a crucifix he laid—

A jewel'd crucifix, the virgin maid

Had given him before she died. The moon

Shed light upon her visage—clouded soon,

Then briefly breaking from its airy veil,

Like warrior lifting up his aventayle.

The heavy bell toll'd two, and, as it toll'd,

Julio started, and the fresh-turn'd mould

He flung into the empty chasm with speed,

And o'er it dropt the flagstone. One could read

That Agathè lay there; but still the girl

Lay by him, like a precious and pale pearl,

That from the deep sea-waters had been rent—

Like a star fallen from the firmament!

He is away—and still the sickly lamp

Is burning next the altar; there's a damp,

Thin mould upon the pavement; and, at morn,

The monks do cross them in their blessed scorn,

And mutter deep anathemas, because

Of the unholy sacrilege, that was

Within the sainted chapel,—for they guess'd,

By many a vestige sad, how the dark rest

Of Agathè was broken,—and anon

They sought for Julio. The summer sun

Arose and set, with his imperial disc

Toward the ocean-waters, heaving brisk

Before the winds,—but Julio came never:

He that was frantic as a foaming river—

Mad as the fall of leaves upon the tide

Of a great tempest, that hath fought and died

Along the forest ramparts, and doth still

In its death-struggle desperately reel

Round with the fallen foliage—he was gone,

And none knew whither. Still were chanted on

Sad masses, by pale sisters, many a day,

And holy requiems sung for Agathè!

CHIMERA II.

A curse! a curse! the beautiful pale wing

Of a sea-bird was worn with wandering,

And, on a sunny rock beside the shore,

It stood, the golden waters gazing o'er;

And they were heaving a brown amber flow

Of weeds, that glitter'd gloriously below.

It was the sunset, and the gorgeous hall

Of heaven rose up on pillars magical

Of living silver, shafting the fair sky

Between dark time and great eternity.

They rose upon their pedestal of sun,

A line of snowy columns! and anon

Were lost in the rich tracery of cloud

That hung along, magnificently proud,

Predicting the pure star-light, that beyond

The east was armouring in diamond

About the camp of twilight, and was soon

To marshal under the fair champion moon,

That call'd her chariot of unearthly mist,

Toward her citadel of amethyst.

A curse! a curse! a lonely man is there

By the deep waters, with a burden fair

Clasp'd in his wearied arms—'Tis he; 'tis he

The brain-struck Julio, and Agathè!

His cowl is back—flung back upon the breeze,

His lofty brow is haggard with disease,

As if a wild libation had been pour'd

Of lightning on those temples, and they shower'd

A dismal perspiration, like a rain,

Shook by the thunder and the hurricane!

He dropt upon a rock, and by him placed,

Over a bed of sea-pinks growing waste,

The silent ladye, and he mutter'd wild,

Strange words, about a mother, and no child.

"And I shall wed thee, Agathè! although

Ours be no God-blest bridal—even so!"

And from the sand he took a silver shell,

That had been wasted by the fall and swell

Of many a moon-borne tide into a ring—

A rude, rude ring; it was a snow-white thing,

Where a lone hermit limpet slept and died,

In ages far away. "Thou art a bride,

Sweet Agathè! Wake up; we must not linger."

He press'd the ring upon her chilly finger,

And to the sea-bird, on its sunny stone,

Shouted, "Pale priest! that liest all alone

Upon thy ocean altar, rise away

To our glad bridal!" and its wings of gray

All lazily it spread, and hover'd by

With a wild shriek—a melancholy cry!

Then swooping slowly o'er the heaving breast

Of the blue ocean, vanish'd in the west.

He lifted the dead girl, and is away

To where a light boat, in its moorings lay,

Like a sea-cradle, rocking to the hush

Of the nurse waters. With a frantic rush

O'er the wild field of tangles he hath sped,

And through the shoaling waves that fell and fled

Upon the furrow'd beach.

Fast, fast, and far away, the bark hath stood

Out toward the great heaving solitude,

That gurgled in its deeps, as if the breath

Went through its lungs, of agony and death!

And She is there, that is a pyramid

Whereon the stars, the statues of the dead,

Are imaged over the eternal hall,

A group of radiances majestical!

And Julio looks up, and there they be,

And Agathè, and all the waste of Sea,

That slept in wizard slumber, with a shroud

Of night flung o'er his bosom, throbbing proud

Amid its azure pulses; and again

He dropt his blighted eye-orbs, with a strain

Of mirth upon the ladye:—"Agathè!

Sweet bride! be thou a queen, and I will lay

A crown of sea-weed on thy royal brow;

And I will twine these tresses, that are now

Floating beside me, to a diadem;

And the sea foam will sprinkle gem on gem,

And so will the soft dews. Be thou the queen

Of the unpeopled waters, sadly seen

By star-light, till the yet unrisen moon

Issue, unveiled, from her anderoon,

To bathe in the sea fountains: let me say,

Hail—hail to thee! thrice hail, my Agathè!"

The warrior world was lifting to the bent

Of his eternal brow magnificent,

The fiery moon, that in her blazonry

Shone eastward, like a shield. The throbbing sea

Felt fever on his azure arteries,

That shadow'd them with crimson, while the breeze

Fell faster on the solitary sail.

But the red moon grew loftier and pale,

And the great ocean, like the holy hall,

Where slept a seraph host maritimal,

Was gorgeous, with wings of diamond

Fann'd over it, and millions beyond

Of tiny waves were playing to and fro,

All musical, with an incessant flow

Of cadences, innumerably heard

Between the shrill notes of a hermit bird,

That held a solemn paean to the moon.

A sail! awake thee, Julio! a sail!

And be not bending to thy trances pale.

But he is gazing on the moonlit brow

Of his dead Agathè, and fondly now,

The light is silvering her bloodless face

And the cold grave-clothes. There is loveliness

As in a marble image, very bright!

But stricken with a phantasy of light

That is not given to the mortal hue,

To life and breathing beauty: and she too

Is more of the expressless lineament,

Than of the golden thoughts that came and went

Over her features, like a living tide

No while before.

A sail is on the wide

And moving waters, and it draweth nigh

Like a sea-cloud. The elfin billows fly

Before it, in their armories enthrall'd

Of radiant and moon-breasted emerald;

And many is the mariner that sees

The lone boat in the melancholy breeze,

Waving her snowy canvass, and anon

Their stately vessel with a gallant run

Crowds by in all her glory; but the cheer

Of men is pass'd into a sudden fear,

And whisperings, and shakings of the head.—

The moon was streaming on a virgin dead,

And Julio sat over her insane,

Like a sea demon! O'er and o'er again,

Each cross'd him, as the stately vessel stood

Far out into the murmuring solitude!

He lifts her in his arms, and, o'er and o'er,

Upon the brow of chilliness and hoar,

Repeats a silent kiss;—along the side

Of the lone bark, he leans that pallid bride,

Until the waves do image her within

Their bosom, like a spectre—'Tis a sin

Too deadly to be shadow'd or forgiven,

To do such mockery in the sight of Heaven!

And bid her gaze into the startled sea,

And say, "Thy image, from eternity,

Hath come to meet thee, ladye!" and anon,

He bade the cold corse kiss the shadowy one,

That shook amid the waters, like the light

Of borealis in a winter night!

And after, he did strain her sea-wet hair

Between his chilly fingers, with a stare

Of mystery, that marvell'd how that she

Had drench'd it so amid the moonlit sea.

Fast as a meteor star, the lonely bark:

And Julio bent over to the dark,

The solitary sea, for close beside

Floated the stringed harp of one that died

In some wild shipwreck, and he drew it home,

With madness, to his bosom: the white foam

Was o'er its strings; and on the streaming sail

He wiped them, running, with his fingers pale,

Along the tuneless notes, that only gave

Seldom responses to his wandering stave!

And Julio placed the trembling harp before

The ladye, till the minstrel winds came o'er

Its moisten'd strings, and tuned them with a sigh.

"I hear thee, how thy spirit goeth by,

In music and in love. Oh Agathè!”

Shower soft light, ye stars, that shake the dew

From your eternal blossoms! and thou, too,

Moon! minded of thy power, tide-bearing queen!

That hast a slave and votary within

The great rock-fetter'd deeps, and hearest cry

To thee the hungry surges, rushing by

Like a vast herd of wolves,—fall full and fair

On Julio as he sleepeth, even there,

Amid the suppliant bosom of the sea!

A wide, wide sea! And on its rear and van

Amid the stars, the silent meteors ran

All that still night, and Julio with a cry

Woke up, and saw them flashing fiercely by.

Full three times three, its awful veil of night

Hath Heaven hung before the blessed light;

And a fair breeze falls o'er the sleeping sea,

Where Julio is watching Agathè!

By sun and darkness hath he bent him over—

A mad, moon-stricken, melancholy lover!

The ladye, she hath lost the pearly hue

Upon her gorgeous brow, where tresses grew

Luxuriantly as thoughts of tenderness,

That once were floating in the pure recess

Of her bright soul. These are not as they were,

But are as weeds above a sepulchre,

Wild waving in the breeze: her eyes are now

Sunk deeply under the discolour'd brow,

That is of sickly yellow, and pale blue,

Unnaturally blending. The same hue

Is on her cheek: it is the early breath

Of cold Corruption, the ban dog of Death,

Falling upon her features.—Let it be,

And gaze awhile on Julio, as he

Is gazing on the corse of Agathè!

In truth, he seemeth like no living one,

But is the image of a skeleton:

A fearful portrait from the artist tool

Of Madness—terrible and wonderful!

There was no passion there—no feeling traced

Under those eyelids, where had run to waste,

All that was wild, or beautiful, or bright;

A very cloud was cast upon their light,

That gave to them the heavy hue of lead;

And they were lorn, and lustreless, and dead!

“But I will take me Agathè upon

This sorrowful, sore bosom, and anon,

Down, down, through azure silence, we shall go,

Unepitaph'd, to cities far below;

Where the sea triton, with his winding shell,

Shall sound our blessed welcome. We shall dwell

With many a mariner in his pearly home,

In bowers of amber weed and silver foam,

Amid the crimson corals; we shall be

Together, Agathè! fair Agathè!—

But thou art sickly, ladye—thou art sad;

And I am weary, ladye—I am mad!

Methinks that I shall meet thee far away,

Within the awful centre of the earth,

Where, earliest, we had our holy birth—

In some huge cavern, arching wide below,

Upon whose airy pivot, years ago,

The world went round: 'tis infinitely deep,

But never dismal; for above it sleep,

And under it, blue waters, hung aloof,

And held below,—an amethystine roof,

A sapphire pavement; and the golden sun,

Afar, looks through alternately, like one

That watches round some treasure: often, too,

Through many a mile of ocean, sparkling through,

Are seen the stars and moon, all gloriously,

Bathing their angel brilliance in the sea!

"And there are shafted pillars, that beyond,

Are ranged before a rock of diamond,

Awfully heaving its eternal heights,

From base of silver strewn with chrysolites;

And over it are chasms of glory seen,

With crimson rubies clustering between,

On sward of emerald, with leaves of pearl,

And topazes hung brilliantly on beryl.

So Agathè!—but thou art sickly sad,

And tellest me, poor Julio is mad—

All curse me!—Oh! that I were never, never!—

Or but a breathless fancy, that was ever

Adrift upon the wilderness of Time,

That knew no impulse, but was left sublime

To play at its own will!—that I were hush'd

At night by silver cataracts, that gush'd

Through flowers of fairy hue, and then to die

Away, with all before me passing by,

Like a fair vision I had lived to see,

And died to see no more!—It cannot be!

By this right hand! I feel it is not so,

And by the beating of a heart below,

That strangely feareth for eternity!"

The bark is drifting through the surf, beside

Its rocks of gray upon the coming tide;

And lightly is it stranded on a shore

Of pure and silver shells, that lie before,

Glittering in the glory of the sun;

And Julio hath landed him, like one

That aileth of some wild and weary pest;

And Agathè is folded on his breast,—

A faded flower! with all the vernal dews

From its bright blossom shaken, and the hues

Become as colourless as twilight air—

I marvel much, that she was ever fair!

CHIMERA III.

Ay! to the rocks! and thou wilt see, I wist,

A lonely one, that bendeth in the mist

Of moonlight, with a wild and raven pall

Flung round him. Is he mortal man at all?

For, by the meagre fire-light that is under

Those eyelids, and the vizor shade of wonder

Falling upon his features, I would guess,

Of one that wanders out of blessedness!

Ah me! but this is never the fair girl,

With brow of light, as lovely as a pearl,

That was as beautiful as is the form

Of sea-bird at the breaking of a storm.

The eye is open, with convulsive strain—

A most unfleshly orb! the stars that wane

Have nothing of its hue; for it is cast

With sickly blood, and terribly aghast!

And sunken in its socket, like the light

Of a red taper in the lonely night!

And there is not a braid of her bright hair

But lieth floating in the moonlight air,

Like the long moss, beside a silver spring,

In elfin tresses, sadly murmuring.

The worm hath 'gan to crawl upon her brow—

The living worm! and with

or

THE BANNISHE-K'WETO TRUST

An Introductory Note