∞∞∞∞∞∞∞
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Title: TAMERLANE.
Rule: {{1829-01: ———— //1831-02: —— }}
Stanza: {{1829-01: 1 //1831-02: I. }}
Line-01-001: Kind solace in a dying hour! {{1829-01: — }}
Line-01-002: {{1829-01: [[indented]] }} Such, father, is not (now) my theme {{1829-01: — {{1831-02: : }}
Line-01-003: I will not madly {{1829-01: deem {{1831-02: think }} that power
Line-01-004: {{1829-01: [[indented]] }} Of {{1829-01: Earth {{1831-02: earth }} may shrive me of the sin
Line-01-005: {{1829-01: [[indented]] }} Unearthly pride hath revell’d in —
Line-01-006: {{1829-01: [[indented]] }} I have no time to dote or dream:
Line-01-007: You call it hope — that fire of fire!
Line-01-008: It is but agony of desire {{1829-01: : {{1831-02: — }}
Line-01-009: If I {{1829-01: can {{1831-02: can }} hope {{1829-01: — Oh {{1831-02: (O }} God! I can {{1829-01: — {{1831-02: ) }}
Line-01-010: {{1829-01: [[indented]] }} Its fount is holier — more divine —
Line-01-011: I would not call thee fool, old man,
Line-01-012: {{1829-01: [[indented]] }} But such is not a gift of thine.
Stanza: {{1829-01: 2 //1831-02: II. }}
Line-01-013: {{1829-01: Know {{1831-02: Hear }} thou the secret of a spirit
Line-01-014: {{1829-01: [[indented]] }} Bow’d from its wild pride into shame.
Line-01-015: O {{1829-01: ! }} yearning heart! {{1831-02: ( }} I did inherit
Line-01-016: {{1829-01: [[indented]] }} Thy withering portion with the fame,
Line-01-017: The searing glory which hath shone
Line-01-018: Amid the jewels of my throne,
Line-01-019: Halo of Hell! and with a pain
Line-01-020: Not Hell shall make me fear again {{1829-01: — {{1831-02: ) }}
Line-01-021: O {{1829-01: ! }} craving heart {{1829-01: , }} for the lost flowers
Line-01-022: And sunshine of my summer hours!
Line-01-023: {{1829-01: Th’ {{1831-02: The }} undying voice of that dead time,
Line-01-024: With its interminable chime,
Line-01-025: Rings {{1829-01: , }} in the spirit of a spell,
Line-01-026: Upon thy emptiness {{1831-02: , }} — a knell.
{{1831-02:
Line-02-027: Despair, the fabled vampire-bat,
Line-02-028: Hath long upon my bosom sat,
Line-02-029: And I would rave, but that he flings
Line-02-030: A calm from his unearthly wings.
}}
Stanza: {{1829-01: 3 //1831-02: III. }}
Line-01-027: I have not always been as now:
Line-01-028: The fever’d diadem on my brow {{1831-02: , }}
Line-01-029: {{1829-01: [[indented]] }} I claim’d and won usurpingly {{1829-01: —— //1831-02: — }}
Line-01-030: {{1829-01: Hath //1831-02: Hath }} not the same {{1829-01: fierce }} heirdom given
Line-01-031: {{1829-01: [[indented]] }} Rome to the Caesar — this to me?
Line-01-032: {{1829-01: [[indented]] }} The heritage of a kingly mind {{1829-01: , }}
Line-01-033: And a proud spirit which hath striven
Line-01-034: {{1829-01: [[indented]] }} Triumphantly with human kind.
Stanza: {{1829-01: 4 //1831-02: IV. }}
Line-01-035: On mountain soil I first drew life {{1829-01: : // 1831-02: — }}
Line-01-036: {{1829-01: [[indented]] }} The mists of the Taglay have shed
Line-01-037: {{1829-01: [[indented]] }} Nightly their dews upon my head,
Line-01-038: And, I believe, the winged strife
Line-01-039: And tumult of the headlong air
Line-01-040: Hath {{1829-01: nestl’d //1831-02: nestled }} in my very hair.
Stanza: {{1829-01: 5 //1831-02: V. }}
Line-01-041: So late from Heaven — that dew — it fell
Line-01-042: {{1829-01: [[indented]] }} ( {{1829-01: ’Mid // 1831-02: Mid }} dreams of an unholy night)
Line-01-043: Upon me {{1829-01: — }} with the touch of Hell,
Line-01-044: {{1829-01: [[indented]] }} While the red flashing of the light
Line-01-045: From clouds that hung, like banners, o’er,
Line-01-046: {{1829-01: [[indented]] }} {{1829-01: Appeared //1831-02: Appear’d }} to my half-closing eye
Line-01-047: {{1829-01: [[indented]] }} The pageantry of monarchy,
Line-01-048: And the deep {{1829-01: trumpet-thunder's // 1831-02: trumpet thunder's }} roar
Line-01-049: {{1829-01: [[indented]] }} Came hurriedly upon me, telling
Line-01-050: {{1829-01: [[indented]] }} Of human battle, where my voice,
Line-01-051: {{1829-01: [[indented]] }} My {{1829-01: own //1831-02: own }} voice, silly child {{1829-01: ! — //1831-02: , }} was swelling
Line-01-052: {{1829-01: [[indented]] }} (O {{1829-01: ! }} how my spirit would rejoice {{1829-01: , }}
Line-01-053: And leap within me at the cry {{1831-02: ! }} )
Line-01-054: The {{1829-01: battle-cry //1831-02: battle cry }} of {{1829-01: Victory! //1831-02: victory. }}
Stanza: {{1829-01: 6 //1831-02: VI. }}
Line-01-055: The rain came down upon my head {{1831-02: , }}
Line-01-056: {{1829-01: [[indented]] }} Unshelter’d {{1829-01: — //1831-02: , }} and the heavy wind
Line-01-057: {{1829-01: [[indented]] }} Was {{1829-01: giantlike // 1831-02: giant-like }} — so thou, my mind! {{1829-01: — }}
Line-01-058: It was but man, I thought, who shed
Line-01-059: {{1829-01: [[indented]] }} Laurels upon me{{1829-01: : // 1831-02: — }} and the rush {{1829-01: — //1831-02: , }}
Line-01-060: The torrent of the chilly air {{1831-02: , }}
Line-01-061: Gurgled within my ear the crush
Line-01-062: {{1829-01: [[indented]] }} Of empires {{1829-01: — // 1831-02: , }} with the captive's prayer {{1829-01: — //1831-02: , }}
Line-01-063: The hum of suiters {{1829-01: — //1831-02: , }} and the tone
Line-01-064: Of flattery {{1829-01: ’round //1831-02: , round }} a sovereign's throne.
Stanza: {{1829-01: 7 //1831-02: VII. }}
Line-01-065: My passions {{1829-01: , }} from that hapless hour {{1829-01: , }}
Line-01-066: {{1829-01: [[indented]] }} Usurp’d a tyranny which men
Line-01-067: Have deem’d, since I have reach’d to power;
Line-01-068: {{1829-01: [[indented]] }} My innate nature — be it so:
Line-01-069: {{1829-01: [[indented]] }} But, father, there liv’d one who {{1829-01: , }} then {{1829-01: , //1831-02: — }}
Line-01-070: Then {{1829-01: — }} in my {{1829-01: boy-hood — //1831-02: boyhood }} when their fire
Line-01-071: {{1829-01: [[indented]] }} Burn’d with a still intenser glow,
Line-01-072: (For passion must {{1829-01: , }} with youth {{1829-01: , }} expire)
Line-01-073: {{1829-01: [[indented]] }} E’en {{1829-01: then //1831-02: then }} who knew {{1829-01: this iron heart //1831-02: that as infinite }}
Line-01-074: {{1829-01: [[indented]] }} {{1829-01: In woman's //1831-02: My soul — so was the }} weakness {{1829-01: had a part //1831-02: in it }} .
Stanza: {{1831-02: [[new stanza inserted, adapted from “The Lake”]] VIII. }}
Line-02-078: For in those days it was my lot
Line-02-079: To haunt of the wide world a spot
Line-02-080: The which I could not love the less.
Line-02-081: So lovely was the loneliness
Line-02-082: Of a wild lake with black rock bound,
Line-02-083: And the sultan-like pines that tower’d around!
Line-02-084: But when the night had thrown her pall
Line-02-085: Upon that spot as upon all,
Line-02-086: And the black wind murmur’d by,
Line-02-087: In a dirge of melody;
Line-02-088: My infant spirit would awake
Line-02-089: To the terror of that lone lake.
Line-02-090: Yet that terror was not fright —
Line-02-091: But a tremulous delight —
Line-02-092: A feeling not the jewell’d mine
Line-02-093: Could ever bribe me to define,
Line-02-094: Nor love, Ada! tho’ it were thine.
Line-02-095: How could I from that water bring
Line-02-096: Solace to my imagining?
Line-02-097: My solitary soul — how make
Line-02-098: An Eden of that dim lake?
}}
Stanza: {{1829-01: 8 //1831-02: IX. }}
{{1831-02:
Line-02-099: But then a gentler, calmer spell,
Line-02-100: Like moonlight on my spirit fell,
}}
Line-01-075: {{1831-02: And O! }} I have no words {{1829-01: — alas! — }} to tell
Line-01-076: The loveliness of loving well!
Line-01-077: {{1829-01: Nor would }} I {{1831-02: will not }} now attempt to trace
Line-01-078: The more than beauty of a face
Line-01-079: Whose lineaments {{1829-01: , }} upon my mind {{1829-01: , }}
Line-01-080: Are {{1829-01: —— }} shadows on {{1829-01: th’ //1831-02: the }} unstable wind {{1829-01: : //1831-02: . }}
Line-01-081: {{1829-01: Thus }} I remember having dwelt {{1831-02: , }}
Line-01-082: {{1829-01: [[indented]] }} {{1829-01: Some page //1831-02: Pages }} of early lore upon,
Line-01-083: With loitering eye {{1829-01: , }} till I have felt
Line-01-084: The letters {{1829-01: — }} with their meaning {{1829-01: — }} melt
Line-01-085: {{1829-01: [[indented]] }} To fantasies — with none.
Stanza: {{1829-01: 9 //1831-02: X. }}
Line-01-086: {{1829-01: O! //1831-02: Was }} she {{1829-01: was // 1831-02: not }} worthy of all love {{1829-01: ! //1831-02: ? }}
Line-01-087: {{1829-01: [[indented]] }} Love {{1829-01: — }} as in infancy was mine —
Line-01-088: ’Twas such as angel minds above
Line-01-089: {{1829-01: [[indented]] }} Might envy {{1829-01: ; // 1831-02: — }} her young heart the shrine
Line-01-090: On which my ev’ry hope and thought
Line-01-091: {{1829-01: [[indented]] }} Were incense — then a goodly gift {{1829-01: , //1831-02: — }}
Line-01-092: {{1829-01: [[indented]] }} For they were childish {{1829-01: — }} and upright —
Line-01-093: Pure {{1829-01: —— //1831-02: — }} as her young example taught:
Line-01-094: {{1829-01: [[indented]] }} Why did I leave it {{1829-01: , }} and {{1829-01: , }} adrift {{1829-01: , }}
Line-01-095: {{1829-01: [[indented]] }} Trust to the fire within {{1829-01: , }} for light?
Stanza: {{1829-01: 10 //1831-02: XI. }}
Line-01-096: We grew in age {{1829-01: — }} and love {{1829-01: — }} together {{1829-01: — //1831-02: , }}
Line-01-097: {{1829-01: [[indented]] }} Roaming the forest {{1829-01: , }} and the wild {{1829-01: ; //1831-02: , }}
Line-01-098: My breast her shield in wintry weather {{1829-01: — // 1831-02: , }}
Line-01-099: {{1829-01: [[indented]] }} And {{1829-01: , }} when the friendly sunshine smil’d,
Line-01-100: And she would mark the opening skies,
Line-01-101: {{1829-01: I //1831-02: I }} saw no Heaven {{1829-01: — }} but in her eyes.
Stanza: {{1829-01: 11 //1831-02: XII. }}
Line-01-102: Young Love's first lesson is —— the heart:
Line-01-103: {{1829-01: [[indented]] }} For {{1829-01: 'mid // 1831-02: mid }} that sunshine {{1829-01: , }} and those smiles,
Line-01-104: When {{1829-01: , }} from our little cares apart,
Line-01-105: {{1829-01: [[indented]] }} And laughing at her girlish wiles,
Line-01-106: I’d {{1829-01: throw me on //1831-02: lean upon }} her {{1829-01: throbbing //1831-02: gentle }} breast,
Line-01-107: {{1829-01: [[indented]] }} And pour my spirit out in tears {{1829-01: — //1831-02: , }}
Line-01-107: There was no need to speak the rest {{1829-01: — // 1831-02: , }}
Line-01-109: {{1829-01: [[indented]] }} No need to quiet any fears
Line-01-110: Of {{1829-01: her //1831-02: hers }} — who ask’d no reason why,
Line-01-111: But turn’d on me her quiet eye {{1829-01: ! // 1831-02: . }}
Stanza: {{1829-01: 12 //1831-02: XIII. }}
{{1829-01:
Line-01-112: Yet more than worthy of the love
Line-01-113: My spirit struggled with, and strove,
Line-01-114: When, on the mountain peak, alone,
Line-01-115: Ambition lent it a new tone —
}}
Line-01-116: I had no being {{1829-01: — }} but in thee:
Line-01-117: {{1829-01: [[indented]] }} The world {{1829-01: , }} and all it did contain {{1831-02: , }}
Line-01-118: In the earth — the air — the sea {{1829-01: — //1831-02: , }}
Line-01-119: {{1829-01: [[indented]] }} {{1829-01: Its joy — its little lot //1831-02: Of pleasure or }} of pain {{1831-02: — }}
Line-01-120: {{1829-01: That was new pleasure —— //1831-02: The good, the bad, }} the ideal,
Line-01-121: {{1829-01: [[indented]] }} Dim {{1829-01: , }} vanities of dreams by night {{1829-01: — //1831-02: , }}
Line-01-122: And dimmer nothings which were real {{1829-01: — // 1831-02: , }}
Line-01-123: {{1829-01: [[indented]] }} (Shadows {{1829-01: — }} and a more shadowy light {{1829-01: ! }} )
Line-01-124: Parted upon their misty wings,
Line-01-125: {{1829-01: [[indented]] }} And, so, confusedly, became
Line-01-126: {{1829-01: [[indented]] }} Thine image and {{1829-01: — }} a name — a name!
Line-01-127: Two separate {{1829-01: — }} yet most intimate things.
{{1829-01:
Stanza: 13
Line-01-128: I was ambitious — have you known
Line-01-129: [[indented]] The passion, father? You have not:
Line-01-130: A cottager, I mark’d a throne
Line-01-131: Of half the world as all my own,
Line-01-132: [[indented]] And murmur’d at such lowly lot —
Line-01-133: But, just like any other dream,
Line-01-134: [[indented]] Upon the vapor of the dew
Line-01-135: My own had past, did not the beam
Line-01-136: [[indented]] Of Beauty which did while it thro’
Line-01-137: The minute — the hour — the day — oppress
Line-01-138: My mind with double loveliness.
}}
Stanza: {{1829-01: 14 //1831-02: XIV. }}
Line-01-139: We walk’d together on the crown
Line-01-140: Of a high mountain which look’d down
Line-01-141: Afar from its proud natural towers
Line-01-142: {{1829-01: [[indented]] }} Of rock and forest {{1829-01: , }} on the hills —
Line-01-143: The dwindled hills! begirt with bowers
Line-01-144: {{1829-01: [[indented]] }} And shouting with a thousand rills.
Stanza: {{1829-01: 15 //1831-02: XV. }}
Line-01-145: I spoke to her of power and pride,
Line-01-146: {{1829-01: [[indented]] }} But mystically {{1829-01: — //1831-02: , }} in such guise
Line-01-147: That she might deem it nought beside
Line-01-148: {{1829-01: [[indented]] }} The {{1829-01: moment's // 1831-02: moments’ }} converse {{1829-01: ; //1831-02: — }} in her eyes
Line-01-149: I read {{1829-01: , //1831-02: — }} perhaps too carelessly —
Line-01-150: {{1829-01: [[indented]] }} A mingled feeling with my own —
Line-01-151: The flush {{1829-01: on //1831-02: upon }} her bright cheek {{1829-01: , }} to me
Line-01-152: {{1829-01: [[indented]] }} Seem’d {{1829-01: to become //1831-02: fitted for }} a queenly throne {{1831-02: , }}
Line-01-153: Too well that I should let it be {{1831-02: , }}
Line-01-154: {{1829-01: [[indented]] }} Light in the wilderness alone.
Stanza: {{1829-01: 16 //1831-02: XVI. }}
Line-01-155: I wrapp’d myself in grandeur then {{1829-01: , }}
Line-01-156: {{1829-01: [[indented]] }} And donn’d a visionary crown {{1829-01: —— //1831-02: — }}
Line-01-157: {{1829-01: [[indented]] }} Yet it was not that Fantasy
Line-01-158: {{1829-01: [[indented]] }} Had thrown her mantle over me {{1829-01: — //1831-02: , }}
Line-01-159: But that {{1829-01: , }} among the rabble {{1829-01: — }} men,
Line-01-160: {{1829-01: [[indented]] }} Lion ambition is chain’d down {{1829-01: — //1831-02: , }}
Line-01-161: And crouches to a keeper's hand {{1829-01: — // 1831-02: , }}
Line-01-162: Not so in deserts where the grand {{1831-02: , }}
Line-01-163: The wild {{1829-01: — //1831-02: , }} the terrible {{1831-02: , }} conspire
Line-01-164: With their own breath to fan {{1829-01: his //1831-02: its }} fire.
{{1829-01:
Stanza: 17
Line-01-165: Look ’round thee now on Samarcand! —
Line-01-166: [[indented]] Is she not queen of Earth? her pride
Line-01-167: Above all cities? in her hand
Line-01-158: [[indented]] Their destinies? in all beside
Line-01-169: Of glory which the world hath known
Line-01-170: Stands she not nobly and alone?
Line-01-171: Falling — her veriest stepping-stone
Line-01-172: Shall form the pedestal of a throne —
Line-01-173: And who her sovereign? Timour — he
Line-01-174: [[indented]] Whom the astonished people saw
Line-01-175: Striding o’er empires haughtily
Line-01-176: [[indented]] A diadem’d outlaw —
//1831-02:
Stanza: XVII.
Line-02-179: Say, holy father, breathes there yet
Line-02-180: A rebel or a Bajazet?
Line-02-181: How now! why tremble, man of gloom,
Line-02-182: As if my words were the Simoom!
Line-02-183: Why do the people bow the knee,
Line-02-184: To the young Tamerlane — to me!
}}
Stanza: {{1829-01: 18 //1831-02: XVIII. }}
Line-01-177: O {{1829-01: ! }} human love! thou spirit given {{1829-01: , }}
Line-01-178: On {{1829-01: Earth, //1831-02: earth }} of all we hope in Heaven!
Line-01-179: Which {{1829-01: fall'st //1831-02: fallest }} into the soul like rain
Line-01-180: Upon the {{1829-01: Siroc wither’d //1831-02: Siroc-wither’d }} plain,
Line-01-181: And failing {{1829-01: in //1831-02: of }} thy power to bless {{1831-02: , }}
Line-01-182: But {{1829-01: leav'st //1831-02: leaves }} the heart a wilderness!
Line-01-183: Idea {{1829-01: ! }} which bindest life around {{1831-02: , }}
Line-01-184: With music of so strange a sound {{1831-02: , }}
Line-01-185: And beauty of so wild a birth —
Line-01-186: Farewell! for I have won the {{1829-01: Earth! //1831-02: earth. }}
Stanza: {{1829-01: 19 //1831-02: XIX. }}
Line-01-187: When {{1829-01: Hope //1831-02: hope }} , the eagle that tower’d, could see
Line-01-188: {{1829-01: [[indented]] }} No cliff beyond him in the sky,
Line-01-189: His pinions were bent droopingly {{1829-01: — // 1831-02: , }}
Line-01-190: {{1829-01: [[indented]] }} And homeward turn’d his soften’d eye.
Stanza: {{1829-01: 20 //1831-02: XX. }}
Line-01-191: ’Twas sunset: when the sun will part {{1831-02: , }}
Line-01-192: There comes a sullenness of heart
Line-01-193: To him who still would look upon
Line-01-194: The glory of the summer sun.
Line-01-195: That soul will hate the {{1829-01: ev’ning // 1831-02: evening }} mist {{1831-02: , }}
Line-01-196: So often lovely, and will list
Line-01-197: To the sound of the coming darkness (known
Line-01-198: To those whose spirits harken) as one
Line-01-199: Who {{1829-01: , }} in a dream of night {{1829-01: , would //1831-02: would }} fly {{1831-02: , }}
Line-01-200: But {{1829-01: cannot //1831-02: cannot }} from a danger nigh.
Stanza: {{1829-01: 21 //1831-02: XXI. }}
Line-01-201: What tho’ the moon — the white moon {{1831-02: — }}
Line-01-202: Shed all the {{1829-01: splendor //1831-02: beauty }} of her noon,
Line-01-203: {{1829-01: Her //1831-02: Her }} smile is chilly {{1829-01: — //1831-02: , }} and {{1829-01: her //1831-02: her }} beam {{1829-01: , }}
Line-01-204: In that time of dreariness {{1829-01: , }} will seem
Line-01-205: (So like you gather in your breath)
Line-01-206: A portrait taken after death.
{{1829-01:
Line-01-207: And boyhood is a summer sun
Line-01-208: Whose waning is the dreariest one —
Line-01-209: For all we live to know is known
Line-01-210: And all we seek to keep hath flown —
Line-01-211: Let life, then, as the day-flower, fall
Line-01-212: With the noon-day beauty — which is all.
}}
Stanza: {{1829-01: 22 //1831-02: XXII. }}
Line-01-213: I reach’d my home — my home {{1829-01: no more — //1831-02: ? above, }}
{{1829-01:
Line-01-214: [[indented]] For all had flown who made it so —
Line-01-215: I pass’d from out its mossy door,
Line-01-216: [[indented]] And, tho’ my tread was soft and low,
Line-01-217: A voice came from the threshold stone
Line-01-218: Of one whom I had earlier known —
Line-01-219: [[indented]] O! I defy thee, Hell, to show
Line-01-220: [[indented]] On beds of fire that burn below,
Line-01-221: [[indented]] A humbler heart — a deeper wo —
//1831-02:
Line-02-228: My home — my hope — my early love,
Line-02-229: Lonely, like me, the desert rose,
Line-02-230: Bow’d down with its own glory grows.
}}
Stanza: {{1829-01: 23 //1831-02: XXIII. }}
Line-01-222: Father, I firmly do believe —
Line-01-223: {{1829-01: [[indented]] }} I know — for {{1829-01: Death — //1831-02: death, }} who comes for me
Line-01-224: {{1829-01: [[indented]] }} From regions of the blest afar,
Line-01-225: Where there is nothing to deceive,
Line-01-226: {{1829-01: [[indented]] }} Hath left his iron gate ajar,
Line-01-227: {{1829-01: [[indented]] }} And rays of truth you cannot see {{1831-02: , }}
Line-01-228: {{1829-01: [[indented]] }} Are flashing thro’ {{1829-01: Eternity — //1831-02: eternity: }}
Line-01-229: I do believe that Eblis hath
Line-01-230: A snare in {{1829-01: ev’ry //1831-02: every }} human path —
Line-01-231: Else how {{1829-01: , }} when in the holy grove {{1831-02: , }}
Line-01-232: I {{1829-01: wandered //1831-02: wander’d }} of the idol, Love,
Line-01-233: Who daily scents his snowy wings
Line-01-234: With incense of burnt offerings {{1831-02: , }}
Line-01-235: From the most {{1829-01: unpolluted //1831-02: undefiled }} things {{1829-01: , //1831-02: ; }}
Line-01-236: Whose pleasant bowers are yet so riven
Line-01-237: Above with trelliced rays from Heaven {{1831-02: , }}
Line-01-238: No mote may shun — no tiniest fly
Line-01-239: The {{1829-01: light’ning //1831-02: lightening }} of his eagle eye —
Line-01-240: How was it that Ambition crept,
Line-01-241: {{1829-01: [[indented]] }} Unseen {{1829-01: , }} amid the revels there,
Line-01-242: Till growing bold, he {{1829-01: laughed //1831-02: laugh’d }} and leapt
Line-01-243: {{1829-01: [[indented]] }} In the tangles of {{1829-01: Love's //1831-02: Loves [[Love's]] }} very hair?
{{1831-02:
Stanza: {{1831-02: [[new stanza inserted from “To — —” beginning “Should my early life seem ...”]] XXIV. }}
Line-02-258: If my peace hath flown away
Line-02-259: In a night — or in a day —
Line-02-260: In a vision — or in none —
Line-02-261: Is it, therefore, the less gone?
Line-02-262: I was standing 'mid the roar
Line-02-263: Of a wind-beaten shore,
Line-02-264 And I held within my hand
Line-02-265: Some particles of sand —
Line-02-266: How bright! and yet to creep
Line-02-267: Thro’ my fingers to the deep!
Line-02-268: My early hopes? no — they
Line-02-269: Went gloriously away,
Line-02-270: Like lightning from the sky —
Line-02-271: Why in the battle did not I?
}}
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Notes:
For an explanation of the formatting used in this Comparative Text, see editorial policies and methods. This format is very much an experiment, particularly for poetry.
Because these changes reflect two different printed texts, pagination has been omitted in the present text.
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[S:0 - comparative] - Edgar Allan Poe Society of Baltimore - Works - Poems - Tamerlane (Comparative Text - ATMP and POEMS)