canto i.]
LARA.
327
That darts in seeming playfulness around,
And makes those feel that will not own the wound;
All these seemed his, and something more beneath
Than glance could well reveal, or accent breathe.
Ambition, Glory, Love, the common aim.
That some can conquer, and that all would claim, 80
Within his breast appeared no more to strive.
Yet seemed as lately they had been alive;
And some deep feeling it were vain to trace
At moments lightened o'er his livid face.
And makes those feel that will not own the wound;
All these seemed his, and something more beneath
Than glance could well reveal, or accent breathe.
Ambition, Glory, Love, the common aim.
That some can conquer, and that all would claim, 80
Within his breast appeared no more to strive.
Yet seemed as lately they had been alive;
And some deep feeling it were vain to trace
At moments lightened o'er his livid face.
VI.
Not much he loved long question of the past,
Nor told of wondrous wilds, and deserts vast,
In those far lands where he had wandered lone,
And—as himself would have it seem—unknown:
Yet these in vain his eye could scarcely scan.
Nor glean experience from his fellow man; 90
But what he had beheld he shunned to show,
As hardly worth a stranger's care to know;
If still more prying such inquiry grew.
His brow fell darker, and his words more few.
Not much he loved long question of the past,
Nor told of wondrous wilds, and deserts vast,
In those far lands where he had wandered lone,
And—as himself would have it seem—unknown:
Yet these in vain his eye could scarcely scan.
Nor glean experience from his fellow man; 90
But what he had beheld he shunned to show,
As hardly worth a stranger's care to know;
If still more prying such inquiry grew.
His brow fell darker, and his words more few.
VII.
Not unrejoiced to see him once again.
Warm was his welcome to the haunts of men;
Born of high lineage, linked in high command,
He mingled with the Magnates of his land;
Joined the carousals of the great and gay.
And saw them smile or sigh their hours away; 100
But still he only saw, and did not share.
The common pleasure or the general care;
He did not follow what they all pursued
With hope still baffled still to be renewed;
Not unrejoiced to see him once again.
Warm was his welcome to the haunts of men;
Born of high lineage, linked in high command,
He mingled with the Magnates of his land;
Joined the carousals of the great and gay.
And saw them smile or sigh their hours away; 100
But still he only saw, and did not share.
The common pleasure or the general care;
He did not follow what they all pursued
With hope still baffled still to be renewed;
