Chapter XV: Part I: I

Now that the farewell tear is dried,
Heaven prosper thee, be hope thy guide!
Hope be thy guide, adventurous Boy;
The wages of thy travel, joy!
Whether for London bound--to trill 5
Thy mountain notes with simple skill;
Or on thy head to poise a show
Of Images[520] in seemly row;
The graceful form of milk-white Steed,
Or Bird that soared with Ganymede;[IE] 10
Or through our hamlets thou wilt bear
The sightless Milton, with his hair
Around his placid temples curled;
And Shakspeare at his side--a freight,
If clay could think and mind were weight, 15
For him who bore the world!
Hope be thy guide, adventurous Boy;
The wages of thy travel, joy!

II

But thou, perhaps, (alert as free[521]
Though serving sage philosophy) 20
Wilt ramble over hill and dale,
A Vender of the well-wrought Scale,
Whose sentient tube instructs to time
A purpose to a fickle clime:
Whether thou choose this useful part, 25
Or minister to finer art,
Though robbed of many a cherished dream,
And crossed by many a shattered scheme,
What stirring wonders wilt thou see
In the proud Isle of liberty! 30
Yet will the Wanderer sometimes pine
With thoughts which no delights can chase,
Recal a Sister's last embrace,
His Mother's neck entwine;
Nor shall forget the Maiden coy 35
That _would_ have loved the bright-haired Boy!

III

My Song, encouraged by the grace
That beams from his ingenuous face,
For this Adventurer scruples not
To prophesy a golden lot; 40
Due recompense, and safe return
To COMO'S steeps--his happy bourne!
Where he, aloft in garden glade,
Shall tend, with his own dark-eyed Maid,
The towering maize, and prop the twig 45
That ill supports the luscious fig;
Or feed his eye in paths sun-proof
With purple of the trellis-roof,
That through the jealous leaves escapes
From Cadenabbia's pendent grapes. 50
--Oh might he tempt that Goatherd-child
To share his wanderings! him whose look[522]
Even yet my heart can scarcely brook,
So touchingly he smiled--
As with a rapture caught from heaven-- 55
For unasked alms in pity given.[523]