Difference(s) between text #12486 and text #69008

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11The sheep-bell tolleth curfew-time; <I>(ÆT. 16)</I>
22The gnats, a busy rout,
33Fleck the warm air; the dismal owlIt is a venerable place,
44Shouteth a sleepy shout; An old ancestral ground,
5So broad, the rainbow wholly stands
6 Within its lordly bound;
7And here the river waits and winds
8 By many a wooded mound.
9
10Upon a rise, where single oaks
11 And clumps of beeches tall
12Drop pleasantly their shade beneath,
13 Half-hid amidst them all,
14Stands in its quiet dignity
15 An ancient manor-hall.
16
17About its many gable-ends
18 The swallows wheel their flight;
19The huge fantastic weather-vanes
20 Look happy in the light;
21The warm front through the foliage gleams,
22 A comfortable sight.
23
24The ivied turrets seem to love
25 The low, protected leas;
26And, though this manor-hall hath seen
27 The snow of centuries,
28How freshly still it stands amid
29 Its wealth of swelling trees!
30
31The leafy summer-time is young;
32 The yearling lambs are strong;
33The sunlight glances merrily;
34 The trees are full of song;
35The valley-loving river flows
36 Contentedly along.
37
38Look where the merry weather-vanes
39 Veer upon yonder tower:
40There, amid starry jessamine
41 And clasping passion-flower,
42The sweetest Maid of all the land
43 Is weeping in her bower.
44
45Alas, the lowly Youth she loves
46 Loves her, but fears to sue:
47He came this morning hurriedly;
48 Then forth her blushes flew!
49But he talk'd of common things, and so
50 Her eyes are fill'd with dew.
51
52Time passes on; the clouds are come;
53 The river, late so bright,
54Rolls foul and black, and gloomily
55 Makes known across the night,
56In far-heard plash and weary drench,
57 The passage of its might.
58
59The noble Bridegroom counts the hours;
60 The guests are coming fast;
61(The vanes are creaking drearily
62 Within the dying blast!)
63The bashful Bride is at his side;
64 And night is here at last.
65
66The guests are gay; the minstrels play;
67 'Tis liker noon than night;
68From side to side, they toast the Bride,
69 Who blushes ruby light:
70For one and all within that hall,
71 It is a cheerful sight.
72
73But unto one, who stands alone,
74 Among the mists without,
75Watching the windows, bright with shapes
76 Of king and saint devout,
77Strangely across the muffled air
78 Pierces the laughter-shout.
79
80No sound or sight this solemn night
81 But moves the soul to fear:
82The faded saints stare through the gloom,
83 Askant, and wan, and blear;
84And wither'd cheeks of watchful kings
85 Start from their purple gear.
86
87The burthen of the wedding-song
88 Comes to him like a wail;
89The stream, athwart the cedar-grove,
90 Is shining ghastly pale:
91His cloudy brow clears suddenly!
92 Dark soul, what does thee ail?
93
94He turns him from the lighted hall;
95 The pale stream curls and heaves
96And moans beyond the gloomy wood,
97 Through which he breaks and cleaves;
98And now his footfall dies away
99 Upon the wither'd leaves.
100
101The restless moon, among the clouds,
102 Is loitering slowly by;
103Now in a circle like the ring
104 About a weeping eye;
105Now left quite bare and bright; and now
106 A pallor in the sky;
107
108And now she's looking through the mist,
109 Cold, lustreless, and wan,
110And wildly, past her dreary form,
111 The watery clouds rush on,
112A moment white beneath her light,
113 And then, like spirits, gone.
114
115Silent and fast they hurry past,
116 Their swiftness striketh dread,
117For earth is hush'd, and no breath sweeps
118 The spider's rainy thread,
119And everything, but those pale clouds,
120 Is dark, and still, and dead.
121
122The lonely stars are here and there,
123 But weak and wasting all;
124The winds are dead, the cedars spread
125 Their branches like a pall;
126The guests, by laughing twos and threes,
127 Have left the bridal hall.
128
129Beneath the mossy, ivied bridge,
130 The river slippeth past:
131The current deep is still as sleep,
132 And yet so very fast!
133There's something in its quietness
134 That makes the soul aghast.
135
136No wind is in the willow-tree
137 That droops above the bank;
138The water passes quietly
139 Beneath the sedges dank;
140Yet the willow trembles in the stream,
141 And the dry reeds talk and clank.
142
143The weak stars swoon; the jagged moon
144 Is lost in the cloudy air.
145No thought of light! save where the wave
146 Sports with a fitful glare.
147The dumb and dreadful world is full
148 Of darkness and night-mare.
149
150The hall-clocks clang; the watch-dog barks.
151 What are his dreams about?
152Marsh lights leap, and tho' fast asleep
153 The owlets shriek and shout;
154The stars, thro' chasms in utter black,
155 Race like a drunken rout.
156
157"Wake, wake, oh wake!" the Bridegroom now
158 Calls to his sleeping Bride:
159"Alas, I saw thee, pale and dead,
160 Roll down a frightful tide!"
161He takes her hand: "How chill thou art!
162 What is it, sweet my Bride?"
163
164The Bride bethinks her now of him
165 Who last night was no guest.
166"Sweet Heaven! and for me? I dream!
167 Be calm, thou throbbing breast."
168She says, in thought, a solemn prayer
169 And sinks again to rest.
170
171Along, along, swiftly and strong
172 The river slippeth past;
173The current deep is still as sleep,
174 And yet so very fast!
175There's something in its quietness
176 That makes the soul aghast.
177
178The morn has risen: wildly by
179 The water glides to-day;
180Outspread upon its eddying face,
181 Long weeds and rushes play;
182And on the bank the fungus rots,
183 And the grass is foul'd with clay.
184
185Time passes on: the park is bare;
186 The year is scant and lean;
187The river's banks are desolate;
188 The air is chill and keen;
189But, now and then, a sunny day
190 Comes with a thought of green.
191
192Amid blear February's flaw,
193 Tremulous snowdrops peep;
194The crocus, in the shrewd March morn,
195 Starts from its wintry sleep;
196The daisies sun themselves in hosts,
197 Among the pasturing sheep.
198
199The waters, in their old content,
200 Between fresh margins run;
201The pike, as trackless as a sound,
202 Shoots thro' the current dun;
203And languid new-born chestnut-leaves
204 Expand beneath the sun.
205
206The summer's prime is come again;
207 The lilies bloom anew;
208The current keeps the doubtful past
209 Deep in its bosom blue,
210And babbles low thro' quiet fields
211 Gray with the falling dew.
212
213The sheep-bell tolls the curfew-time;
214 The gnats, a busy rout,
215Fleck the warm air; the distant owl
216 Shouteth a sleepy shout;
5217The voiceless bat, more felt than seen,The voiceless bat, more felt than seen,
6218Is flitting round about. Is flitting round about;
7219
8220The aspen leaflets scarcely stir:The poplar's leaflet scarcely stirs;
9221The river seems to think: The river seems to think;
10222Athwart the dusk, broad primrosesAcross the dusk, the lily broad
11223Look coldly from the brink, Looks coolly from the brink;
12224Where, list'ning to the freshet's noise,And knee-deep in the freshet's fall,
13225The quiet cattle drink. The meek-eyed cattle drink.
14226
15227The bees boom past, the white moths riseThe chafers boom; the white moths rise
16228Like spirits from the ground; Like spirits from the ground;
17229The gray flies hum their weary tune,The gray-flies sing their weary tune,
18230A distant-dream-like sound; A distant, dream-like sound;
19231And far, far off to the slumb'rous eve,And far, far off, in the slumberous eve,
20232Bayeth an old guard-hound. Bayeth a restless hound.
233
234At this sweet time, the Lady walks
235 Beside the gentle stream;
236She marks the waters curl along,
237 Beneath the sunset gleam,
238And in her soul a sorrow moves,
239 Like memory of a dream.
240
241She passes on. How still the earth,
242 And all the air above!
243Here, where of late the scritch-owl shriek'd,
244 Whispers the happy dove;
245And the river, through the ivied bridge,
246 Flows calm as household love.

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