The Works of Edgar Allan Poe – Volume 5

Of their own dissolution, while they die —
Adorning then the dwellings of the sky.
A dome, by linked light from Heaven let down,
Sat gently on these columns as a crown —
A window of one circular diamond, there,
Look’d out above into the purple air,
And rays from God shot down that meteor chain
And hallow’d all the beauty twice again,
Save when, between th’ Empyrean and that ring,
Some eager spirit flapp’d his dusky wing.
But on the pillars Seraph eyes have seen
The dimness of this world:  that greyish green
That Nature loves the best for Beauty’s grave
Lurk’d in each cornice, round each architrave —
And every sculptur’d cherub thereabout
That from his marble dwelling peeréd out
Seem’d earthly in the shadow of his niche —
Achaian statues in a world so rich?
[23 - * Voltaire, in speaking of Persepolis, says, “Je connoisbien l’admiration qu’inspirent ces ruines – mais un palaiserigé au pied d’une chaine des rochers sterils – peut ilêtre un chef d’oevure des arts!” [Voila les arguments de M. Voltaire.]]Friezes from Tadmor and Persepolis —
From Balbec, and the stilly, clear abyss
[24 - “Oh! the wave” – Ula Degusi is the Turkish appellation;but, on its own shores, it is called Bahar Loth, orAlmotanah. There were undoubtedly more than two citiesengluphed in the “dead sea.” In the valley of Siddim werefive – Adrah, Zeboin, Zoar, Sodom and Gomorrah. Stephen ofByzantium mentions eight, and Strabo thirteeen, (engulphed)– but the last is out of all reason.It is said, (Tacitus, Strabo, Josephus, Daniel of St. Saba, Nau,Maundrell, Troilo, D’Arvieux) that after an excessive drought, the vestiges of columns, walls, &c. are seen above the surface. At anyseason, such remains may be discovered by looking down into the transparent lake, and at such distances as would argue the existence of many settlements in the space now usurped by the ‘Asphaltites.’]Of beautiful Gomorrah!  O, the wave
Is now upon thee – but too late to save!

Sound loves to revel in a summer night:
Witness the murmur of the grey twilight
[25 - Eyraco – Chaldea.]That stole upon the ear, in Eyraco,
Of many a wild star-gazer long ago —
That stealeth ever on the ear of him
Who, musing, gazeth on the distance dim.
And sees the darkness coming as a cloud —
[26 - I have often thought I could distinctly hear the sound ofthe darkness as it stole over the horizon.]Is not its form – its voice – most palpable and loud?

But what is this? – it cometh – and it brings
A music with it – ‘tis the rush of wings —
A pause – and then a sweeping, falling strain
And Nesace is in her halls again.
From the wild energy of wanton haste
Her cheeks were flushing, and her lips apart;
And zone that clung around her gentle waist
Had burst beneath the heaving of her heart.
Within the centre of that hall to breathe
She paus’d and panted, Zanthe!  all beneath,
The fairy light that kiss’d her golden hair
And long’d to rest, yet could but sparkle there!

[27 - Fairies use flowers for their charactery. —Merry Wives of Windsor. [William Shakespeare]]Young flowers were whispering in melody
To happy flowers that night – and tree to tree;
Fountains were gushing music as they fell
In many a star-lit grove, or moon-lit dell;
Yet silence came upon material things —
Fair flowers, bright waterfalls and angel wings —
And sound alone that from the spirit sprang
Bore burthen to the charm the maiden sang:

“‘Neath blue-bell or streamer —
Or tufted wild spray
That keeps, from the dreamer,
[28 - In Scripture is this passage – “The sun shall not harmthee by day, nor the moon by night.” It is perhaps notgenerally known that the moon, in Egypt, has the effect ofproducing blindness to those who sleep with the face exposedto its rays, to which circumstance the passage evidentlyalludes.]The moonbeam away —
Bright beings!  that ponder,
With half closing eyes,
On the stars which your wonder
Hath drawn from the skies,
Till they glance thro’ the shade, and
Come down to your brow
Like – eyes of the maiden
Who calls on you now —
Arise!  from your dreaming
In violet bowers,
To duty beseeming
These star-litten hours —
And shake from your tresses
Encumber’d with dew
The breath of those kisses
That cumber them too —
(O!  how, without you, Love!
Could angels be blest?)
Those kisses of true love
That lull’d ye to rest!
Up! – shake from your wing
Each hindering thing:
The dew of the night —
It would weigh down your flight;
And true love caresses —
O! leave them apart!
They are light on the tresses,
But lead on the heart.

Ligeia!  Ligeia!
My beautiful one!
Whose harshest idea
Will to melody run,
O!  is it thy will
On the breezes to toss?
Or, capriciously still,
[29 - The Albatross is said to sleep on the wing.]Like the lone Albatross,
Incumbent on night
(As she on the air)
To keep watch with delight
On the harmony there?