162 THE REVOLT OF ISLAM. And where melodious falls did burst and shiver Among rocks clad with flowers, the foam and spray Sparkled like stars upon the sunny river; Or, when the moonlight poured a holier day, One vast and glittering lake around green islands lay. 35. Mom, noon, and even, that boat of pearl outran The streams which bore it, like the arrowy cloud Of tempest, or the speedier thought of man Which flieth forth and cannot make abode. Sometimes through forests, deep like night, we glode. Between the walls of mighty mountains crowned With cyclopean piles, whose turrets proud, The homes of the departed, dimly frowned O’er the bright waves which girt their dark foundations round. 36. Sometimes between the wide and flowering meadows Mile after mile we saded, and ’twas delight To see far off the sunbeams chase the shadows Over the grass; sometimes beneath the night Of wide and vaulted caves whose roofs were bright With starry gems we fled, whilst from their deep And dark-green chasms shades beautiful and white Amid sweet sounds across our path would sweep, Like swift and lovely dreams that walk the waves of sleep. 37. And ever as we sailed our minds were full Of love and wisdom, which would overflow In converse wild and sweet and wonderful, And in quick smiles whose light would come and go Like music o’er wide waves, and in the flow Of sudden tears, and in the mute caiess— For a deep shade was cleft, and we did know That virtue, though obscured on earth, not less Survives all mortal change in lasting loveliness. 38. Three days and nights we sailed, as thought and feeling Number delightful hours—for through the sky The sphered lamps of day and night, revealing New changes and new glories, rolled on high,— Sun, moon, and moonlike lamps, the progeny Of a diviner heaven, serene and fair. On the fourth day, wild as a wind-wrought sea The stream became, and fast and faster bare The spirit-winged boat, steadily speeding there. 39- Steady and swift,—wheie the waves rolled like mountains Within the vast ravine whose rifts did pour Tumultuous floods from their ten thousand fountains, The thunder of whose earth-uplifting roar Made the air sweep in whirlwinds from the shore,— Calm as a shade, the boat of that fair child Securely fled that rapid stress before,