He felt his soul become more light

Beneath the freshness of the night.

Cool was the silent sky, though calm, 360

And bathed his brow with airy balm:

Behind, the camp—before him lay,

In many a winding creek and bay,

Lepanto's gulf; and, on the brow

Of Delphi's hill, unshaken snow,[pa]

High and eternal, such as shone

Through thousand summers brightly gone,

Along the gulf, the mount, the clime;

It will not melt, like man, to time:

Tyrant and slave are swept away, 370

Less formed to wear before the ray;

But that white veil, the lightest, frailest,[352]

Which on the mighty mount thou hailest,

While tower and tree are torn and rent,

Shines o'er its craggy battlement;

In form a peak, in height a cloud,

In texture like a hovering shroud,

Thus high by parting Freedom spread,

As from her fond abode she fled,

And lingered on the spot, where long 380

Her prophet spirit spake in song.[pb]

Oh! still her step at moments falters

O'er withered fields, and ruined altars,

And fain would wake, in souls too broken,

By pointing to each glorious token:

But vain her voice, till better days

Dawn in those yet remembered rays,

Which shone upon the Persian flying,

And saw the Spartan smile in dying.