Breasts and limbs and lifted eyes,

Hair and lips and stretching fingers,
Fade away--and fadeless rise.

And the god whose ferventrapture
Clasps her finds his close embrace

Full of palpitating branches,
And new leaves that bud apace,

Bound his wonder-stricken forehead; -
While in ebbing measures slow

Sounds of softly dying pulses
Pause and quiver, pause and go;

Go, and come again, and flutter
On the verge of life,--then flee!

All the white ambrosial beauty
Is a lustrous Laurel Tree!

Still with the great panting love-chase
All its running sap is warmed; -

But from head to foot the virgin
Is transfigured and transformed.

Changed!--yet the green Dryad nature
Is instinct with human ties,

And above its anguish'd lover
Breathes pathetic sympathies;

Sympathies of love and sorrow;
Joy in her divine escape;

Breathing through her bursting foliage
Comfort to his bending shape.

Vainly now the floating Naiads
Seek to pierce the laurel maze,

Nought but laurel meets their glances,
Laurel glistens as they gaze.

Nought but bright propheticlaurel!
Laurel over eyes and brows,

Over limbs and over bosom,
Laurel leaves and laurel boughs!

And in vain the listening Dryad
Shells her hand against her ear! -

All is silence--save the echo
Travelling in the distance drear.

LONDON BY LAMPLIGHT
There stands a singer in the street,

He has an audience motley and meet;
Above him lowers the London night,

And around the lamps are flaring bright.
His minstrelsy may be unchaste -

'Tis much unto that motley taste,
And loud the laughter he provokes

From those sad slaves of obscene jokes.
But woe is many a passer by

Who as he goes turns half an eye,
To see the human form divine

Thus Circe-wise changed into swine!
Make up the sum of either sex

That all our human hopes perplex,
With those unhappy shapes that know

The silent streets and pale cock-crow.
And can I trace in such dull eyes

Of fireside peace or country skies?
And could those haggard cheeks presume

To memories of a May-tide bloom?
Those violated forms have been

The pride of many a flowering green;
And still the virgin bosom heaves

With daisy meads and dewy leaves.
But stygian darkness reigns within

The river of death from the founts of sin;
And one prophetic water rolls

Its gas-lit surface for their souls.
I will not hide the tragic sight -

Those drown'd black locks, those dead lips white,
Will rise from out the slimy flood,

And cry before God's throne for blood!
Those stiffened limbs, that swollen face, -

Pollution's last and best embrace,
Will call, as such a picture can,

For retribution upon man.
Hark! how their feeblelaughter rings,

While still the ballad-monger sings,
And flatters their unhappy breasts

With poisonous words and pungent jests.
O how would every daisy blush

To see them 'mid that earthy crush!
O dumb would be the evening thrush,

And hoary look the hawthorn bush!
The meadows of their infancy

Would shrink from them, and every tree,
And every little laughing spot,

Would hush itself and know them not.
Precursor to what black despairs

Was that child's face which once was theirs!
And O to what a world of guile

Was herald that young angel smile!
That face which to a father's eye

Was balm for all anxiety;
That smile which to a mother's heart

Went swifter than the swallow's dart!
O happy homes! that still they know

At intervals, with what a woe
Would ye look on them, dim and strange,

Suffering worse than winter change!
And yet could I transplant them there,

To breathe again the innocent air
Of youth, and once more reconcile

Their outcast looks with nature's smile;
Could I but give them one clear day

Of this deliciousloving May,
Release their souls from anguish dark,

And stand them underneath the lark; -
I think that Nature would have power

To graft again her blighted flower
Upon the broken stem, renew

Some portion of its early hue; -
The heavy flood of tears unlock,

More precious than the Scriptured rock;
At least instil a happier mood,

And bring them back to womanhood.
Alas! how many lost ones claim

This refuge from despair and shame!
How many, longing for the light,

Sink deeper in the abyss this night!
O, crying sin! O, blushing thought!

Not only unto those that wrought
The misery and deadly blight;

But those that outcast them this night!
O, agony of grief! for who

Less dainty than his race, will do
Such battle for their human right,

As shall awake this startled night?
Proclaim this evil human page

Will ever blot the Golden Age
That poets dream and saints invite,

If it be unredeemed this night?
This night of deep solemnity,

And verdurous serenity,
While over every fleecy field

The dews descend and odours yield.
This night of gleaming floods and falls,

Of forest glooms and sylvan calls,
Of starlight on the pebbly rills,

And twilight on the circling hills.
This night! when from the paths of men

Grey error steams as from a fen;
As o'er this flaring City wreathes

The black cloud-vapour that it breathes!
This night from which a morn will spring

Blooming on its orient wing;
A morn to roll with many more

Its ghostly foam on the twilight shore.
Morn! when the fate of all mankind

Hangs poised in doubt, and man is blind.
His duties of the day will seem

The fact of life, and mine the dream:
The destinies that bards have sung,

Regeneration to the young,
Reverberation of the truth,

And virtuousculture unto youth!
Youth! in whose season let abound

All flowers and fruits that strew the ground,
Voluptuous joy where love consents,

And health and pleasure pitch their tents:
All rapture and all pure delight;

A garden all unknown to blight;
But never the unnatural sight

That throngs the shameless song this night!
SONG

Under boughs of breathing May,
In the mild spring-time I lay,

Lonely, for I had no love;
And the sweet birds all sang for pity,

Cuckoo, lark, and dove.
Tell me, cuckoo, then I cried,

Dare I woo and wed a bride?
I, like thee, have no home-nest;

And the twin notes thus tuned their ditty, -
'Love can answer best.'

Nor, warm dove with tender coo,
Have I thy soft voice to woo,

Even were a damsel by;
And the deep woodland crooned its ditty, -

'Love her first and try.'
Nor have I, wild lark, thy wing,

That from bluest heaven can bring
Bliss, whatever fate befall;

And the sky-lyrist trilled this ditty, -
'Love will give thee all.'

So it chanced while June was young,
Wooing well with fervent song,

I had won a damsel coy;
And the sweet birds that sang for pity,

Jubileed for joy.
PASTORALS

I
How sweet on sunny afternoons,

For those who journey light and well,
To loiter up a hilly rise

Which hides the prospect far beyond,
And fancy all the landscape lying

Beautiful and still;
Beneath a sky of summer blue,

Whose rounded cloudlets, folded soft,
Gaze on the scene which we await

• forehead [´fɔrid] n.额，前部 (初中英语单词)
• softly [´sɔftli] ad.软化地；柔和地 (初中英语单词)
• quiver [´kwivə] v.抖动 n.颤动(声) (初中英语单词)
• running [´rʌniŋ] a.奔跑的；流动的 (初中英语单词)
• instinct [´instiŋkt] n.本能；直觉；天资 (初中英语单词)
• divine [di´vain] a.神圣的 v.预言 (初中英语单词)
• pierce [piəs] v.刺穿；突破；洞察 (初中英语单词)
• singer [´siŋə] n.歌手，演唱者 (初中英语单词)
• audience [´ɔ:diəns] n.听众；观众；接见 (初中英语单词)
• laughter [´lɑ:ftə] n.笑，笑声 (初中英语单词)
• unhappy [ʌn´hæpi] a.不幸的；不快乐的 (初中英语单词)
• feeble [´fi:bəl] a.虚弱的，无力的 (初中英语单词)
• innocent [´inəsənt] a.无罪的；单纯的 (初中英语单词)
• delicious [di´liʃəs] a.美味的，可口的 (初中英语单词)
• underneath [,ʌndə´ni:θ] ad.&prep.在底下 (初中英语单词)
• portion [´pɔ:ʃən] n.嫁妆；命运 vt.分配 (初中英语单词)
• refuge [´refju:dʒ] v.&n.避难(所)；庇护 (初中英语单词)
• despair [di´speə] vi.&n.绝望 (初中英语单词)
• misery [´mizəri] n.痛苦；悲惨；穷困 (初中英语单词)
• deadly [´dedli] a.致命的 ad.死一般地 (初中英语单词)
• descend [di´send] v.下来，下降 (初中英语单词)
• twilight [´twailait] n.黎明；黄昏 (初中英语单词)
• culture [´kʌltʃə] n.修养；文化；饲养 (初中英语单词)
• damsel [´dæmzəl] n.姑娘，未婚少女 (初中英语单词)
• whatever [wɔt´evə] pron.&a.无论什么 (初中英语单词)
• prospect [´prɔspekt, prəs´pekt] n.景色；境界 v.勘察 (初中英语单词)
• laurel [´lɔrəl] n.月桂树(叶)；桂冠 (高中英语单词)
• virgin [´və:dʒin] a.处女(般)的 n.处女 (高中英语单词)
• tragic [´trædʒik] a.悲剧的；悲惨的 (高中英语单词)
• throne [θrəun] n.宝座；王位 (高中英语单词)
• shrink [ʃriŋk] v.收缩；退缩；畏缩 (高中英语单词)
• herald [´herəld] n.先驱；预兆 vt.预示 (高中英语单词)
• loving [´lʌviŋ] a.爱的，有爱情的 (高中英语单词)
• anguish [´æŋgwiʃ] n.(极度的)痛苦；苦恼 (高中英语单词)
• longing [´lɔŋiŋ] n.&a.渴望(的) (高中英语单词)
• dainty [´deinti] a.秀丽的 n.美味 (高中英语单词)
• orient [´ɔ:riənt] n.东方 a.东方的 (高中英语单词)
• rapture [´ræptʃə] n.着迷；全神贯注 (高中英语单词)
• woodland [´wudlənd] n.树林，林地 (高中英语单词)
• landscape [´lændskeip] n.风景；景色；风景画 (高中英语单词)
• pathetic [pə´θetik] a.可怜的；悲哀的 (英语四级单词)
• haggard [´hægəd] a.憔悴的 (英语四级单词)
• swollen [´swəulən] swell的过去分词 (英语四级单词)
• poisonous [´pɔizənəs] a.有毒的；讨厌的 (英语四级单词)
• virtuous [´və:tjuəs] a.道德的；善良的 (英语四级单词)
• unnatural [,ʌn´nætʃərəl] a.不自然的 (英语四级单词)
• cuckoo [´kuku:] n.杜鹃，布谷鸟 (英语四级单词)
• fervent [´fə:vənt] a.强烈的；热情的 (英语六级单词)
• prophetic [prə´fetik] a.预言(家)的；预示的 (英语六级单词)
• fireside [´faiəsaid] n.炉边；家；家庭生活 (英语六级单词)
• hawthorn [´hɔ:θɔ:n] n.山楂(属) (英语六级单词)
• transplant [træns´plɑ:nt, -plænt] vt.移植(种)；迁移 (英语六级单词)
• fleecy [´fli:si] a.羊毛似的 (英语六级单词)
• starlight [´stɑ:lait] n.星光 (英语六级单词)
• ghostly [´gəustli] a.鬼的；朦胧的 (英语六级单词)
• loiter [´lɔitə] v.闲逛，消磨时间 (英语六级单词)