And there for ever the patient Wind
Rakes up the crystals of dry Snow,
And mourns for ever her work undone;
And there for ever, like Titans blind
Their countenance lifting to Heaven’s glow,
The sightless Mountains yearn for the Sun.
There nightly the numbed Eagle quells
(Full-feathered to his feet of horn)
His swooning eye, his eyrie won,
And slumbers, frozen by frosty spells
Fast to the pinnacle; but at Morn
Unfettered, leaps toward the Sun.
He heard, he saw. Not to the air
Dared breathe a breath; but with his sight
Wreak’d on Immortals mortal wrong,
And dared to see them as they were—
The black Peaks blacken’d in Their light,
The white Stars flashing with Their song.
So fled. But when revealing Morn
Show’d him descended, Giant grown,
Men ant-like, petty, mean and weak,
He rush’d returning. Then in scorn
Th’ Immortals smote him to a Stone
That aches for ever on the Peak.
[Ocean and the Rock]
The Rock. Cease, O rude and raging Sea,
Thus to waste thy war on me.
Hast thou not enough assail’d
All these ages, Fool, and fail’d?
The Ocean. Gaunt and ghastly Skeleton,
Remnant of a time that’s gone,
Tott’ring in thy last decay
Durst thou still to darken day?