True above ills, and frailty, and all fear,--
Perchance a shadow of his own career
Whose youth was darkly prison'd and long-twined
By serpent-sorrow, till white Love drew near,
And sweetly sang him free, and round his mind
A bright horizon threw, wherein no grief may wind.


II.

I saw a tower builded on a lake,
Mock'd by its inverse shadow, dark and deep--
That seem'd a still intenser night to make,
Wherein the quiet waters sank to sleep,--
And, whatso'er was prison'd in that keep,
A monstrous Snake was warden:--round and round
In sable ringlets I beheld him creep
Blackest amid black shadows to the ground,
Whilst his enormous head, the topmost turret crown'd.


III.

From whence he shot fierce light against the stars,
Making the pale moon paler with affright;
And with his ruby eye out-threaten'd Mars--
That blaz'd in the mid-heavens, hot and bright--
Nor slept, nor wink'd, but with a steadfast spite
Watch'd their wan looks and tremblings in the skies;
And that he might not slumber in the night,