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[[...]]
Line-01-067: Gurgled in my pleas’d ear the crash
Line-01-068: {{1828-02: [[indented]] }} Of empires, with the captive's prayer {{1827-01: , }}
Line-01-069: The hum of suitors {{1827-01: , the mix’d // 1828-02: & the }} tone
Line-01-070: Of flatt’ry {{1827-01: round //1828-02: ’round }} a sov’reign's throne.
Stanza: {{1827-01: [[blank line, but not numbered as a new stanza]] //1828-02: 6 }}
Line-01-071: {{1827-01: [[indented]] }} The storm had ceas’d {{1827-01: — and //1828-02: & }} I awoke —
Line-01-072: {{1828-02: [[indented]] }} Its spirit cradled me to sleep,
Line-01-073: And as it pass’d me by {{1827-01: , }} there broke
Line-01-074: {{1828-02: [[indented]] }} Strange light upon me, tho’ it were
Line-01-075: {{1828-02: [[indented]] }} My soul in mystery to {{1827-01: sleep [[steep]] //1828-02: steep }} :
Line-01-076: For I was not as I had been {{1827-01: ; //1828-02: — }}
Line-01-077: {{1828-02: [[indented]] }} The child of Nature, without care,
Line-01-078: Or thought {{1827-01: , }} save of the passing scene. {{1827-01: — }}
Stanza: {{1827-01: V. //1828-02: 7 }}
Line-01-079: {{1827-01: [[indented]] }} My passions, from that hapless hour,
Line-01-080: {{1828-02: [[indented]] }} Usurp’d a tyranny {{1827-01: , }} which men
Line-01-081: Have deem’d {{1827-01: , }} since I have reach’d to power
Line-01-082: {{1828-02: [[indented]] }} My innate nature — be it so:
Line-01-083: {{1828-02: [[indented]] }} But, father, there liv’d one who {{1827-01: , }} then {{1827-01: — //1828-02: , }}
Line-01-084: Then, in my boyhood, when their fire
Line-01-085: {{1828-02: [[indented]] }} Burn’d with a still intenser glow {{1827-01: ; }}
Line-01-086: (For passion must with youth expire)
Line-01-087: Ev’n then {{1827-01: , }} who deem’d this iron heart
Line-01-088: In woman's weakness had a part.
Stanza: {{1827-01: [[blank line, but not numbered as a new stanza]] //1828-02: 8 }}
Line-01-089: {{1827-01: [[indented]] }} I have no words, alas! to tell
Line-01-090: The lovliness of loving well!
Line-01-091: Nor would I dare attempt to trace
Line-01-092: The {{1827-01: breathing //1828-02: more than }} beauty of a face {{1827-01: , }}
Line-01-093: Which {{1828-02: , }} ev’n to {{1827-01: my //1828-02: this }} impassion’d mind,
Line-01-094: Leaves not its memory behind.
Line-01-095: In spring of life have ye ne’er dwelt
Line-01-096: {{1828-02: [[indented]] }} Some object of delight upon {{1827-01: , }}
Line-01-097: With steadfast eye, till ye have felt
Line-01-098: {{1828-02: [[indented]] }} The earth reel {{1827-01: — and //1828-02: , & }} the vision gone?
Line-01-099: {{1827-01: And I have //1828-02: So have I }} held to {{1827-01: mem’ry's //1828-02: Memory's }} eye
Line-01-100: {{1828-02: [[indented]] }} One object {{1827-01: — // 1828-02: , }} and but one {{1827-01: — //1828-02: , }} until
[[...]]
Stanza: {{1827-01: VIII. //1828-02: 11 }}
Line-01-145: {{1827-01: [[indented]] }} Yes! she was worthy of all love!
Line-01-146: {{1827-01: Ev’n such //1828-02: I taught her }} as from {{1827-01: th’ accursed //1828-02: the }} time
Line-01-147: My spirit with the tempest strove {{1827-01: , }}
Line-01-148: When {{1828-02: , }} on the mountain peak alone,
Line-01-149: Ambition lent it a new tone,
Line-01-150: And bade it first to dream of crime,
{{1827-01:
Line-01-151: My phrenzy [[frenzy]] to her bosom taught:
Line-01-152: We still were young: no purer thought
Line-01-153: Dwell [[Dwelt]] in a seraph's breast than thine; (3)
Line-01-154: For passionate love is still divine:
//1828-02:
Line-02-150: There were no holier thoughts than thine.
}}
Line-01-155: {{1827-01: I //1828-02: I }} lov’d {{1827-01: her //1828-02: thee }} as an angel might {{1828-02: , }}
Line-01-156: With ray of the {{1827-01: all living //1828-02: all-living }} light
Line-01-157: Which blazes upon Edis’ shrine {{1827-01: . (4) //1828-02: — }}
Line-01-158: It is not surely sin to name {{1827-01: , }}
Line-01-159: With such as mine {{1827-01: — }} that mystic flame,
Line-01-160: I had no being but in thee {{1827-01: ! //1828-02: — }}
Line-01-161: The world {{1828-02: , }} with all its train of bright
Line-01-162: And happy beauty {{1828-02: — }} (for to me
Line-01-163: All was an undefin’d delight {{1828-02: . }} )
Line-01-164: The world — its joy — its share of pain
Line-01-165: {{1827-01: Which I felt not //1828-02: unheeded then }} — its bodied forms
Line-01-166: Of varied being {{1827-01: , }} which contain
Line-01-167: The bodiless spirits of the storms,
Line-01-168: The sunshine, {{1827-01: and //1828-02: & }} the calm — {{1827-01: the //1828-02: th’ }} ideal
Line-01-169: And fleeting vanities of dreams {{1827-01: , }}
Line-01-170: Fearfully beautiful {{1827-01: ! //1828-02: — }} the real
Line-01-171: Nothings of mid-day waking life —
Line-01-172: Of an enchanted life, which seems,
Line-01-173: Now as I look back, the strife
Line-01-174: Of {{1827-01: some //1828-02: an }} ill demon {{1827-01: , }} with a power
Line-01-175: Which left me in an evil hour {{1827-01: , //1828-02: — }}
Line-01-176: All that I felt, or saw, or thought,
Line-01-177: {{1828-02: [[indented]] }} Crowding {{1827-01: , }} confused became
Line-01-178: (With thine unearthly beauty fraught {{1828-02: — }} )
Line-01-179: {{1828-02: [[indented]] }} Thou — {{1827-01: and // 1828-02: & }} the nothing of a name.
Stanza: {{1827-01: IX. //1828-02: 12 }}
Line-01-130: {{1827-01: [[indented]] }} The passionate spirit which hath known {{1827-01: , }}
Line-01-181: And deeply felt the silent tone
Line-01-182: Of its own {{1827-01: self supremacy, //1828-02: self-supremacy }} —
{{1827-01:
Line-01-183: (I speak thus openly to thee,
Line-01-184: ’Twere folly now to veil a thought
Line-01-185: With which this aching, breast is fraught)
Line-01-186: The soul which feels its innate right —
Line-01-187: The mystic empire and high power
Line-01-188: Giv’n by the energetic might
Line-01-189: Of Genius, at its natal hour;
}}
Line-01-190: Which knows (believe {{1827-01: ! me at this time, // 1828-02: for now on me }}
Line-01-191: {{1827-01: When falsehood were a ten-fold crime //1828-02: Truth flashes thro’ Eternity }} ,
Line-01-192: There is a power in the high spirit
Line-01-193: To know the fate it will inherit)
Line-01-194: The soul {{1827-01: , }} which {{1827-01: knows //1828-02: feels }} such power {{1827-01: , }} will still
Line-01-195: Find {{1827-01: Pride //1828-02: Pride }} the ruler of its will.
Stanza: {{1827-01: [[blank line, but not numbered as a new stanza]] //1828-02: 13 }}
Line-01-196: {{1827-01: [[indented]] }} Yes! I was proud {{1827-01: — and //1828-02: & }} ye who know
Line-01-197: {{1828-02: [[indented]] }} The magic of that meaning word {{1827-01: , }}
Line-01-198: So oft perverted, will bestow
Line-01-199: {{1828-02: [[indented]] }} Your scorn {{1827-01: , }} perhaps {{1827-01: , }} when ye have heard
Line-01-200: That the proud spirit had been broken,
Line-01-201: {{1828-02: [[indented]] }} The proud heart burst in agony
Line-01-202: At one upbraiding word or token
Line-01-203: {{1828-02: [[indented]] }} Of her {{1828-02: , }} that heart's idolatry {{1827-01: — //1828-02: ! }}
Line-01-204: I was ambitious — have ye known
Line-01-205: {{1828-02: [[indented]] }} {{1827-01: Its //1828-02: The }} fiery passion? {{1827-01: — ye //1828-02: Ye }} have not —
Line-01-206: A cottager, I mark’d a throne
Line-01-207: Of half the world {{1827-01: , }} as all my own {{1827-01: , }}
Line-01-208: {{1828-02: [[indented]] }} And murmur’d at such lowly lot {{1827-01: ! //1828-02: ; }}
Line-01-209: But it had pass’d me as a dream
Line-01-210: {{1828-02: [[indented]] }} Which, of light step, flies with the dew {{1827-01: , }}
Line-01-211: {{1828-02: ( }} That kindling thought {{1828-02: ) }} — did not the beam
Line-01-212: {{1828-02: [[indented]] }} Of Beauty, which did guide it {{1827-01: through //1828-02: thro’ }}
Line-01-213: The {{1827-01: livelong //1828-02: live-long }} summer day, oppress
Line-01-214: My mind with double loveliness {{1827-01: — // 1828-02: ! }}
* * * * *
Stanza: {{1827-01: X. //1828-02: 14 }}
Line-01-215: {{1827-01: [[indented]] }} We walk’d together on the crown
Line-01-216: Of a high mountain {{1827-01: , }} which look’d down
Line-01-217: Afar from its proud natural towers
Line-01-218: Of rock {{1827-01: and //1828-02: & }} forest, on the hills {{1827-01: — //1828-02: ; }}
Line-01-219: The dwindled hills, whence {{1828-02: , }} amid bowers
Line-01-220: {{1828-02: [[indented]] }} Her {{1827-01: own fair // 1828-02: magic }} hand had rear’d around {{1827-01: , }}
Line-01-221: {{1828-02: [[indented]] }} Gush’d shoutingly a thousand rills,
Line-01-222: {{1828-02: [[indented]] }} {{1827-01: Which as it were, in fairy //1828-02: Encircling with a glitt’ring }} bound
{{1827-01:
Line-01-223: Embrac’d two hamlets — those our own —
Line-01-224: Peacefully happy — yet alone —
//1828-02:
Line-02-222: Of diamond sunshine & sweet spray
Line-02-223: Two mossy huts of the Taglay.
}}
* * * * *
Stanza: {{1827-01: [[blank line, but not numbered as a new stanza]] //1828-02: 15 }}
Line-01-225: {{1827-01: [[indented]] }} I spoke to her of power and pride {{1827-01: — //1828-02: , }}
Line-01-226: {{1828-02: [[indented]] }} But mystically, in such guise,
Line-01-227: That she might deem it {{1827-01: naught //1828-02: nought }} beside
Line-01-228: {{1828-02: [[indented]] }} The moment's converse {{1827-01: , //1828-02: ; }} in her eyes
Line-01-229: I read {{1827-01: ( //1828-02: , }} perhaps too carelessly {{1827-01: ) //1828-02: , }}
Line-01-230: {{1828-02: [[indented]] }} A mingled feeling with my own {{1827-01: , //1828-02: ; }}
Line-01-231: The flush on her bright cheek {{1827-01: , }} to me {{1827-01: , }}
Line-01-232: {{1828-02: [[indented]] }} Seem’d to become a queenly throne
Line-01-233: Too well {{1827-01: , }} that I should let it be
Line-01-234: {{1828-02: [[indented]] }} A light in the dark wild {{1827-01: , }} alone.
Stanza: {{1827-01: XI. //1828-02: 16 }}
Line-01-235: {{1827-01: [[indented]] }} There {{1827-01: — // 1828-02: , }} in that hour {{1827-01: — //1828-02: , }} a thought came o’er
Line-01-236: My mind {{1827-01: , }} it had not known before —
Line-01-237: To leave her while we both were young {{1827-01: , — // 1828-02: : }}
Line-01-238: To follow my high fate among
Line-01-239: The strife of nations, {{1827-01: and //1828-02: & }} redeem
Line-01-240: The idle words {{1827-01: , }} which, as a dream {{1828-02: , }}
Line-01-241: Now sounded to her heedless ear —
Line-01-242: I held no doubt {{1827-01: — //1828-02: , }} I knew no fear
Line-01-243: Of peril in my wild career {{1827-01: ; //1828-02: — }}
Line-01-244: To gain an empire {{1827-01: , and //1828-02: & }} throw down
Line-01-245: As nuptial dowry {{1828-02: — }} a queen's crown {{1827-01: , }}
{{1827-01:
Line-01-246: The only feeling which possest,
Line-01-247: With her own image, my fond breast —
//1828-02:
Line-02-245: The undying hope which now oppress’d
Line-02-246: A spirit ne’er to be at rest.
}}
Stanza: {{1828-02: [[new stanza]] 17 }}
Line-01-248: Who {{1827-01: , }} that had known the {{1827-01: secret //1828-02: silent }} thought
Line-01-249: {{1828-02: [[indented]] }} Of a young peasant's bosom then {{1827-01: , }}
Line-01-250: Had deem’d him, in compassion, aught
Line-01-251: {{1828-02: [[indented]] }} But one {{1827-01: , }} whom {{1827-01: phantasy //1828-02: Phantasy }} had led
Line-01-252: {{1828-02: [[indented]] }} {{1827-01: Astray from reason — Among //1828-02: Her mantel over? among }} men
Line-01-253: {{1828-02: [[indented]] }} {{1827-01: Ambition //1828-02: Lion ambition }} is chain’d down {{1827-01: — nor fed //1828-02: , }}
Line-02-253: {{1828-02: And crouches to a keeper's hand — }}
Line-01-254: {{1827-01: (As in the desert, //1828-02: Not so in deserts }} where the grand {{1827-01: , }}
Line-01-255: The wild, the {{1827-01: beautiful, //1828-02: terrible }} conspire
Line-01-256: With their own breath to fan its fire {{1827-01: ) // 1828-02: . }}
{{1827-01:
Line-01-257: With thoughts such feeling can command;
Line-01-258: Uncheck’d by sarcasm, and scorn
Line-01-259: Of those, who hardly will conceive
Line-01-260: That any should become “great,” born (5)
Line-01-261: In their own sphere — will not believe
Line-01-262: That they shall stoop in life to one
Line-01-263: Whom daily they are wont to see
Line-01-264: Familiarly — whom Fortune's sun
Line-01-265: Hath ne’er shone dazzlingly upon
Line-01-266: Lowly — and of their own degree —
XII.
Line-01-267: [[indented]] I pictur’d to my fancy's eye
Line-01-268: Her silent, deep astonishment,
Line-01-269: When, a few fleeting years gone by,
Line-01-270: (For short the time my high hope lent
Line-01-271: To its most desperate intent,)
Line-01-272: She might recall in him, whom Fame
Line-01-273: Had gilded with a conquerer's name,
Line-01-274: (With glory — such as might inspire
Line-01-275: Perforce, a passing thought of one,
Line-01-276: Whom she had deem’d in his own fire
Line-01-277: Wither’d and blasted; who had gone
Line-01-278: A traitor, violate of the truth
Line-01-279: So plighted in his early youth,)
Line-01-280: Her own Alexis, who should plight (6)
Line-01-281: The love he plighted then — again,
Line-01-282: And raise his infancy's delight,
Line-01-283: The bride and queen of Tamerlane —
XIII.
Line-01-284: [[indented]] One noon of a bright summer's day
Line-01-285: I pass’d from out the matted bow’r
Line-01-286: Where in a deep, still slumber lay
Line-01-287: My Ada. In that peaceful hour,
Line-01-288: A silent gaze was my farewell.
Line-01-289: I had no other solace — then
Line-01-290: T’awake her, and a falsehood tell
Line-01-291: Of a feign’d journey, were again
Line-01-292: To trust the weakness of my heart
Line-01-293: To her soft thrilling voice: To part
Line-01-294: Thus, haply, while in sleep she dream’d
Line-01-295: Of long delight, nor yet had deem’d
Line-01-296: Awake, that I had held a thought
Line-01-297: Of parting, were with madness fraught;
Line-01-298: I knew not woman's heart, alas!
Line-01-299: Tho’ lov’d, and loving — let it pass. —
XIV.
Line-01-300: [[indented]] I went from out the matted bow’r,
Line-01-301: And hurried madly on my way:
Line-01-302: And felt, with ev’ry flying hour,
Line-01-303: That bore me from my home, more gay;
Line-01-304: There is of earth an agony
Line-01-305: Which, ideal, still may be
Line-01-306: The worst ill of mortality,
Line-01-307: ’Tis bliss, in its own reality,
Line-01-308: Too real, to his breast who lives
Line-01-309: Not within himself but gives
Line-01-310: A portion of his willing soul
Line-01-311: To God, and to the great whole —
Line-01-313: To him, whose loving spirit will dwell
Line-01-313: With Nature, in her wild paths; tell
Line-01-314: Of her wond’rous ways, and telling bless
Line-01-315: Her overpow’ring loveliness!
Line-01-316: A more than agony to him
Line-01-317: Whose failing sight will grow dim
Line-01-318: With its own living gaze upon
Line-01-319: That loveliness around: the sun —
Line-01-320: The blue sky — the misty light
Line-01-321: Of the pale cloud therein, whose hue
Line-01-322: Is grace to its heav’nly bed of blue;
Line-01-323: Dim! tho’ looking on all bright!
Line-01-324: O God! when the thoughts that may not pass
Line-01-325: Will burst upon him, and alas!
Line-01-326: For the flight on Earth to Fancy giv’n,
Line-01-327: There are no words —— unless of Heav’n.
Stanza: {{1827-01: XV. //1828-02: 18 }}
* * * * * *
}}
Line-01-328: {{1827-01: [[indented]] }} Look ’round thee now on Samarcand {{1827-01: , (7) //1828-02: ! }}
Line-01-329: Is she not queen of earth? her pride
Line-01-330: Above all cities? in her hand
Line-01-331: Their destinies? {{1827-01: with //1828-02: in }} all beside
Line-01-332: Of glory {{1827-01: , }} which the world hath known {{1827-01: ? }}
Line-01-333: Stands she not {{1827-01: proudly and //1828-02: nobly & }} alone?
Line-01-334: And who her sov’reign? Timur {{1828-02: — }} he {{1827-01: (8) }}
Line-01-335: Whom {{1827-01: th’ //1828-02: the }} astonish’d {{1827-01: earth hath seen, //1828-02: people saw }}
{{1827-01
Line-01-336: Striding o’er empires haughtily
Line-01-337: A diadem’d outlaw!
//1828-02:
Line-02-335: With victory, on victory,
Line-02-336: Redoubling age! and more, I ween,
}}
Line-01-338: {{1827-01: The Zinghis’ yet re-echoing //1828-02: More than the Zinghis in his }} fame {{1827-01: . (9) // 1828-02: — }}
Line-01-339: And now what has he? {{1827-01: what! //1828-02: even }} a name.
Stanza: {{1828-02: [[new stanza] 19 }}
Line-01-340: The sound of revelry {{1827-01: by //1828-02: to }} night
Line-01-341: Comes o’er me, with the mingled voice
Line-01-342: {{1827-01: Of //1828-02: From }} many with a breast as light {{1827-01: , }}
Line-01-343: As if ’twere not the dying hour
Line-01-344: Of one {{1827-01: , }} in whom they did rejoice —
Line-01-345: As in a leader, haply {{1827-01: — //1828-02: ; }} Power
Line-01-346: Its venom secretly imparts {{1827-01: ; //1828-02: — }}
Line-01-347: {{1827-01: Nothing have I //1828-01: And I have naught }} with human hearts.
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Notes:
For an explanation of the formatting used in this Comparative Text, see editorial policies and methods. This format is very much an experiment, particularly for poetry.
Because these changes reflect two different printed texts, pagination has been omitted in the present text. Since the manuscript is fragmentary, only the portion covered by both texts is presented. Line numbers are given based on the full text printed in 1827.
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[S:0 - comparative] - Edgar Allan Poe Society of Baltimore - Works - Poems - Tamerlane (Comparative Text - TAOP and Wilmer-MS)