"The Gods be your terror, Ye children of men! They hold the dominion In hands everlasting, All free to exert it "Let him fear them doubly "Dissension arises; "But they remain seated Steams towards them the breathing Like offerings of incense, A light-rising vapor. "They turn the proud masters From whole generations The eye of their blessing; Nor will in the children, The once well-beloved, Still eloquent features Of ancestor see." And was embarked to cross to Burgundy; And in my company, my brother Gloster: Who from my cabin, tempted me to walk Upon the hatches: thence we looked toward England, And cited up a thousand heavy times, During the wars of York and Lan caster That had befallen us. As we paced along Upon the giddy footing of the hatches, Methought that Gloster stumbled; and, in falling, Struck me, that thought to stay him, overboard, Into the tumbling billows of the main. O heaven! methought what pain it was to drown! What dreadful noise of water in mine ears! What sights of ugly death within mine eyes! Methought I saw a thousand fearful wrecks; A thousand men, that fishes gnawed upon; Wedges of gold, great anchors, heaps of pearl, Inestimable stones, unvalued jewels, All scattered in the bottom of the sea. Some lay in dead men's skulls; and in those holes Where eyes did once inhabit, there were crept (As 'twere in scorn of eyes) reflecting gems, That wooed the slimy bottom of the deep, And mocked the dead bones that lay scattered by. Brak. Had you such leisure in the time of death To gaze upon these secrets of the deep? Clar.Methought I had: and often did I strive To yield the ghost: but still the envious flood Kept in my soul, and would not let it forth To seek the empty, vast, and wandering air; |