Italy : 49. The Feluca

Day glimmered; and beyond the precipice
(Which my mule followed as in love with fear,
Or as in scorn, yet more and more inclining
To tempt the danger where it menaced most)
A sea of vapour rolled.  Methought we went
Along the utmost edge of this, our world;
But soon the surges fled, and we descried
Nor dimly, though the lark was silent yet,
Thy gulf, La Spezzia.  Ere the morning-gun,
Ere the first day-streak, we alighted there;
And not a breath, a murmur!  Every sail
Slept in the offing.  Yet along the shore
Great was the stir; as at the noontide hour,
None unemployed.  Where from its native rock
A streamlet, clear and full, ran to the sea,
And maidens knelt and sung as they were wont,
Washing their garments.  Where it met the tide,
Sparkling, and lost, an ancient pinnace lay
Keel upward, and the faggot blazed, the tar
Fumed from the cauldron; while, beyond the fort,
Whither I wandered, step by step led on,
The fishers dragged their net, the fish within
At every heave fluttering and full of life,
At every heave striking their silver fins
'Gainst the dark meshes. ---- Soon a boatman's shout
Re-echoed; and red bonnets on the beach,
Waving, recalled me.  We embarked and left
That noble haven, where, when Genoa reigned,
A hundred galleys sheltered -- in the day
When lofty spirits met, and, deck to deck,
Doria, Pisani fought; that narrow field
Ample enough for glory.  On we went
Ruffling with many an oar the crystalline sea,
On from the rising to the setting sun
In silence -- underneath a mountain-ridge,
Untamed, untameable, reflecting round
The saddest purple; nothing to be seen
The life or culture, save where, at the foot,
Some village and its church, a scanty line,
Athwart the wave gleamed faintly.  Fear of Ill
Narrowed our course, fear of the hurricane,
And that still greater scourge, the crafty Moor,
Who, like a tiger prowling for his prey,
Springs and is gone, and on the adverse coast,
(Where Tripoli and Tunis and Algiers
Forge fetters, and white turbans on the mole
Gather, whene'er the Crescent comes displayed
Over the Cross) his human merchandise
To many a curious, many a cruel eye
Exposes.  Ah, how oft, where now the sun
Slept on the shore, have ruthless scimitars
Flashed through the lattice, and a swarthy crew
Dragged forth, ere long to number them for sale,
Ere long to part them in their agony,
Parent and child!  How oft, where now we rode
Over the billow, has a wretched son,
Or yet more wretched sire, grown grey in chains,
Laboured, his hands upon the oar, his eyes
Upon the land -- the land, that gave him birth;
And, as he gazed, his homestall through his tears
Fondly imagined; when a Christian ship
Of war appearing in her bravery,
A voice in anger cried, 'Use all your strength!'
  But when, ah when, do they that can, forbear
To crush the unresisting?  Strange, that men,
Creatures so fraill, so soon, alas, to die,
Should have the power, the will to make this world
A dismal prison-house, and life itself,
Life in its prime, a burden and a curse
To him who never wronged them?  Who that breathes
Would not, when first he heard it, turn away
As from a tale monstrous, incredible?
Surely a sense of our mortality,
A consciousness of how soon we shall be gone,
Or, if we linger -- but a few short years --
How sure to look upon our brother's grave,
Should of itself incline to pity and love,
And prompt us rather to assist, relieve,
Than aggravate the evils each is heir to.
  At length the day departed, and the moon
Rose like another sun, illumining
Waters and woods and cloud-capt promontories,
Glades for a hermit's cell, a lady's bower,
Scenes of Elysium, such as Night alone
Reveals below, nor often -- scenes that fled
As at the waving of a wizard's wand,
And left behind them, as their parting gift,
A thousand nameless odours.  All was still;
And now the nightingale her song poured forth
In such a torrent of heart-felt delight,
So fast it flowed, her tongue so voluble,
As if she thought her hearers would be gone
Ere half was told.  'Twas where in the north-west,
Still unassailed and unassailable,
Thy pharos, Genoa, first displayed itself,
Burning in stillness on its craggy seat;
That guiding-star so oft the only one,
When those now glowing in the azure vault
Are dark and silent.  'Twas where o'er the sea,
For we were now within a cable's length,
Delicious gardens hung; green galleries,
And marble terraces many a flight,
And fairy-arches flung from cliff to cliff,
Wildering, enchanting; and, above them all,
A Palace, such as somewhere in the East,
In Zenastan or Araby the blest,
Among its golden groves, and fruits of gold,
And fountains scattering rainbows in the sky,
Rose, when Aladdin rubbed the wondrous lamp;
Such, if not fairer; and, when we shot by,
A scene of revelry, in long array
As with the radiance of a setting sun,
The windows blazing.  But we now approached
A City far-renowned; and wonder ceased.