in a vacant splendor;
The rainbow lustre of his lengthening folds
Faded to harmless green, till, prone, he lay,
A floating dream of dread, upon the deep;
Then, with the noiseless current drifting on,
I passed your subtle guardian swiftly by;
While only one faint sparkle, green and gold,
Broke from his sluggish sides as I swept past.

"The grandeur of your floating towers of ice
Stole on my sight; the sea rolled rough; the air
Was sharp and clear; and yet this delicate robe
Was all sufficient to resist its power.
Soon, upon every side, I saw tall bergs.
A child of fragrant airs and sunny skies,
Enervate with the South's soft luxuries,
These icebergs burst upon me like a sense
Newly received, revealing God anew.
While in the distance, calmly floating on
Through the broad sunlight, then I loved to dream
That they were palaces upreared by gnomes,
With glittering towers and silver pinnacles,--
That in them were expanded halls of light--
Vast chambers--with such gorgeous, fretted roofs
And shining floors, as wearied human sight;
That fountains filled them with a slumberous sound;
And curtains, wrought of silver-threaded frost,
Were looped with priceless pearls from room to room;--
A home for all the spirits of the Good
Lost in the pitiless sea,--where they would bathe
Their thoughts in heaven's splendor, looking out
The golden windows towards the constant sun,
Shining, unceasing, slant against their brows.

"But, as I nearer drew, I lost that dream
In one more gloomy. They did seem to shape
Themselves to living giants; lifting high
Their frowning foreheads, crowned with fiery crowns.
As lower sank the sun towards the sea,
Gloomier did they grow, with their white hair
And lifted spears, walking with mighty steps
The creaking floor of the unsteady deep.--
Nodding defiantly at one another--
Meeting, with crashing spears and splintered shields,
With hoarse cries, breast to breast, in angry strife;
Their armor shivered at their feet, the sea
Broken beneath their tread and shuddering
At the great shock.

"More thick these terrors grew;
Broad fields stretched out in many a frozen ridge;
While far beyond were paths of printless snow.
The ocean lay behind; and yet my boat
Moved ever onward, up a watery