The golden fountains had not ceas’d to flow,

And, where they mingled with the briny Sea,

There was a sight of wonder and delight,

To see the fish, like birds in air,

Above Ladurlad flying.

Round those strange waters they repair,

Their scarlet fins outspread and plying,

They float with gentle hovering there;

And now upon those little wings,

As if to dare forbidden things,

With wilful purpose bent,

Swift as an arrow from a bow

They dash across, and to and fro,

In rapid glance, like lightning go

Through that unwonted element.

Almost in scenes so wonderous fair,

Ladurlad had forgot

The mighty cause which led him there;

His busy eye was every where,

His mind had lost all thought;

His heart, surrendered to the joys

Of sight, was happy as a boy’s.

But soon the awakening thought recurs

Of him who, in the Sepulchres,

Hopeless of human aid, in chains is laid;

And her who, on the solitary shore,