登陆注册
5286000000046

第46章 CANTO III.(1)

I.

When first the red savage call'd Man strode, a king, Through the wilds of creation--the very first thing That his naked intelligence taught him to feel Was the shame of himself; and the wish to conceal Was the first step in art. From the apron which Eve In Eden sat down out of fig-leaves to weave, To the furbelow'd flounce and the broad crinoline Of my lady--you all know of course whom I mean--

This art of concealment has greatly increas'd.

A whole world lies cryptic in each human breast;

And that drama of passions as old as the hills, Which the moral of all men in each man fulfils, Is only reveal'd now and then to our eyes In the newspaper-files and the courts of assize.

II.

In the group seen so lately in sunlight assembled, 'Mid those walks over which the laburnum-bough trembled, And the deep-bosom'd lilac, emparadising The haunts where the blackbird and thrush flit and sing, The keenest eye could but have seen, and seen only, A circle of friends, minded not to leave lonely The bird on the bough, or the bee on the blossom;

Conversing at ease in the garden's green bosom, Like those who, when Florence was yet in her glories, Cheated death and kill'd time with Boccaccian stories.

But at length the long twilight more deeply grew shaded, And the fair night the rosy horizon invaded.

And the bee in the blossom, the bird on the bough, Through the shadowy garden were slumbering now.

The trees only, o'er every unvisited walk, Began on a sudden to whisper and talk.

And, as each little sprightly and garrulous leaf Woke up with an evident sense of relief, They all seem'd to be saying . . . "Once more we're alone, And, thank Heaven, those tiresome people are gone!"

III.

Through the deep blue concave of the luminous air, Large, loving, and languid, the stars here and there, Like the eyes of shy passionate women, look'd down O'er the dim world whose sole tender light was their own, When Matilda, alone, from her chamber descended, And enter'd the garden, unseen, unattended.

Her forehead was aching and parch'd, and her breast By a vague inexpressible sadness oppress'd:

A sadness which led her, she scarcely knew how, And she scarcely knew why . . . (save, indeed, that just now The house, out of which with a gasp she had fled Half stifled, seem'd ready to sink on her head) . . .

Out into the night air, the silence, the bright Boundless starlight, the cool isolation of night!

Her husband that day had look'd once in her face, And press'd both her hands in a silent embrace, And reproachfully noticed her recent dejection With a smile of kind wonder and tacit affection.

He, of late so indifferent and listless! . . . at last Was he startled and awed by the change which had pass'd O'er the once radiant face of his young wife? Whence came That long look of solicitous fondness? . . . the same Look and language of quiet affection--the look And the language, alas! which so often she took For pure love in the simple repose of its purity--

Her own heart thus lull'd to a fatal security!

Ha! would he deceive her again by this kindness?

Had she been, then, O fool! in her innocent blindness, The sport of transparent illusion? ah folly!

And that feeling, so tranquil, so happy, so holy, She had taken, till then, in the heart, not alone Of her husband, but also, indeed, in her own, For true love, nothing else, after all, did it prove But a friendship profanely familiar?

"And love? . . .

What was love, then? . . . not calm, not secure--scarcely kind, But in one, all intensest emotions combined:

Life and death: pain and rapture?"

Thus wandering astray, Led by doubt, through the darkness she wander'd away.

All silently crossing, recrossing the night.

With faint, meteoric, miraculous light, The swift-shooting stars through the infinite burn'd, And into the infinite ever return'd.

And silently o'er the obscure and unknown In the heart of Matilda there darted and shone Thoughts, enkindling like meteors the deeps, to expire, Leaving traces behind them of tremulous fire.

IV.

She enter'd that arbor of lilacs, in which The dark air with odors hung heavy and rich, Like a soul that grows faint with desire.

'Twas the place In which she so lately had sat face to face, With her husband,--and her, the pale stranger detested Whose presence her heart like a plague had infested.

The whole spot with evil remembrance was haunted.

Through the darkness there rose on the heart which it daunted, Each dreary detail of that desolate day, So full, and yet so incomplete. Far away The acacias were muttering, like mischievous elves, The whole story over again to themselves, Each word,--and each word was a wound! By degrees Her memory mingled its voice with the trees.

V.

Like the whisper Eve heard, when she paused by the root Of the sad tree of knowledge, and gazed on its fruit, To the heart of Matilda the trees seem'd to hiss Wild instructions, revealing man's last right, which is The right of reprisals.

An image uncertain, And vague, dimly shaped itself forth on the curtain Of the darkness around her. It came, and it went;

Through her senses a faint sense of peril it sent:

It pass'd and repass'd her; it went and it came, Forever returning; forever the same;

And forever more clearly defined; till her eyes In that outline obscure could at last recognize The man to whose image, the more and the more That her heart, now aroused from its calm sleep of yore, From her husband detach'd itself slowly, with pain.

Her thoughts had return'd, and return'd to, again, As though by some secret indefinite law,--

The vigilant Frenchman--Eugene de Luvois!

VI.

A light sound behind her. She trembled. By some Night-witchcraft her vision a fact had become.

On a sudden she felt, without turning to view, That a man was approaching behind her. She knew By the fluttering pulse which she could not restrain, And the quick-beating heart, that this man was Eugene.

Her first instinct was flight; but she felt her slight foot As heavy as though to the soil it had root.

And the Duke's voice retain'd her, like fear in a dream.

VII.

同类推荐
  • 医经原旨

    医经原旨

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。汇聚授权电子版权。
  • 魏忠贤小说斥奸书

    魏忠贤小说斥奸书

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。汇聚授权电子版权。
  • 苏六娘

    苏六娘

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。汇聚授权电子版权。
  • 太上混元真录

    太上混元真录

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。汇聚授权电子版权。
  • 茶谱

    茶谱

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。汇聚授权电子版权。
热门推荐
  • 星际拳神

    星际拳神

    一个名叫孤独者的普通学生,无意间来到了一万年前地球上参与了外星人之间的纷争。然而,面对这突如其来又不得不对峙的状况下,正义的精神让他感到了一种前所未有的使命感。遇见了真爱,不想失去却在不经意间失去。在星际的他到底该如何的诀择呢?
  • 禅林疏语考证

    禅林疏语考证

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。汇聚授权电子版权。
  • 慈禧全传之伟大的统治者慈禧太后(第三部)

    慈禧全传之伟大的统治者慈禧太后(第三部)

    我到达中国开始在《香港孖剌西报》的工作时,义和团运动已经发展到顶峰了。从外国记者和中国沿海居民的口中,我常常可以听到诸如“慈禧太后是个嗜杀成性的老泼妇”或“慈禧太后是一个杀人女魔王”的话语。时代在不断变革中前进。近年来,我常常从美国人口中听到对慈禧的赞美。美国人毫不吝啬地给予慈禧太后以热情的赞美,我承认,我并不能解释清楚其中的缘由,但是这并不能否认欧洲人对慈禧太后的厌恶。
  • 不朽神王诀

    不朽神王诀

    神秘玉佩上烙印着一篇传承秘法,少年从此踏上逆天路。身怀至宝,遭奸人暗算,丧失全部记忆,魔根深种,与天斗,与人争,我只认我脚下踏出的路。我管你欺我笑我辱我,阻我屠我杀我,只以一拳破之!我是,最强神王!
  • 逆乱苍穹变

    逆乱苍穹变

    他以为转生异世可得惊天神力,却不想一代魔头变成了废柴修仙者!什么世道?!在家被抽被侮辱,闯荡异世又被抢被追杀!时来运转,他意外获得修真圣果,从此仙道提升,独步天下!
  • 汉武帝外传

    汉武帝外传

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。汇聚授权电子版权。
  • 风云中州

    风云中州

    二十五年前,扶桑浪人柳生十二郎携娇妻伊藤嘉美渡东海来中原。意图挑战中州各大门派,欲做中州霸主。神剑山庄庄主关天赐闻讯赶去阻止。太湖边上,二人大战一场,柳生大败,为关天赐追迫。逃去秦淮河边万花楼里躲避。萧中泰去万花楼游逛,偶遇伊藤嘉美,因慕其美,为柳生十二郎获悉。交战一场,萧中泰丧于柳生之手。留下遗孤萧爻(yao),由其父萧万立抚养,并传授萧爻一身武艺,待其长大,命其出山为萧中泰报仇。萧爻出山报仇,途中巧遇奇异女子纪诗嫣,深慕于纪。然纪乃柳生之徒,纪因此故阻挠萧爻。虽事近荒唐,不可信之。唯个中恩怨纠葛,爱恨交织,常令人难以释怀。词意浅近,通俗易懂,乃磨牙允血以求达者。呜呼,若能为读者破闷消忧,全一笑耳,则幸之甚矣。
  • 盘山了宗禅师语录

    盘山了宗禅师语录

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。汇聚授权电子版权。
  • 与岸当面

    与岸当面

    云泥之别的两个人,如何才能在一起?——要么拉他下凡,要么自己也上天去。总是要先站得离他近一点再说的。姚恩澹一直明白,心动之初,必定先蕴含了钦佩的成分在内。对邹起来说,亦是如此。
  • THE LAST BATTLE (英文朗读版)

    THE LAST BATTLE (英文朗读版)

    《纳尼亚传奇》系列作品对后世作家影响深远,包括《哈利波特》系列的作者J·K·罗琳都曾表示自己深受C·S·刘易斯作品的影响。随着《纳尼亚传奇》系列故事改编成电影,全世界更多观众和读者开始认识这部不朽的作品。穿梭在一个又一个的纳尼亚冒险故事中,这绝对是你一生难忘的神奇旅程……