4. 'So from that cry over the boundless hills Sudden was caught one universal sound, Like a volcano's voice, whose thunder fills Remotest skies,--such glorious madness found A path through human hearts with stream which drowned _3500 Its struggling fears and cares, dark Custom's brood; They knew not whence it came, but felt around A wide contagion poured--they called aloud On Liberty--that name lived on the sunny flood. 5. 'We reached the port.--Alas! from many spirits _3505 The wisdom which had waked that cry, was fled, Like the brief glory which dark Heaven inherits From the false dawn, which fades ere it is spread, Upon the night's devouring darkness shed: Yet soon bright day will burst--even like a chasm _3510 Of fire, to burn the shrouds outworn and dead, Which wrap the world; a wide enthusiasm, To cleanse the fevered world as with an earthquake's spasm! 6. 'I walked through the great City then, but free From shame or fear; those toil-worn Mariners _3515 And happy Maidens did encompass me; And like a subterranean wind that stirs Some forest among caves, the hopes and fears From every human soul, a murmur strange Made as I passed; and many wept, with tears _3520 Of joy and awe, and winged thoughts did range, And half-extinguished words, which prophesied of change. 7. 'For, with strong speech I tore the veil that hid Nature, and Truth, and Liberty, and Love,-- As one who from some mountain's pyramid _3525 Points to the unrisen sun!--the shades approve His truth, and flee from every stream and grove. Thus, gentle thoughts did many a bosom fill,-- Wisdom, the mail of tried affections wove For many a heart, and tameless scorn of ill, _3530 Thrice steeped in molten steel the unconquerable will. 8. 'Some said I was a maniac wild and lost; Some, that I scarce had risen from the grave, The Prophet's virgin bride, a heavenly ghost:-- Some said, I was a fiend from my weird cave, _3535 Who had stolen human shape, and o'er the wave, The forest, and the mountain, came;--some said I was the child of God, sent down to save Woman from bonds and death, and on my head The burden of their sins would frightfully be laid. _3540 9. 'But soon my human words found sympathy In human hearts: the purest and the best, As friend with friend, made common cause with me, And they were few, but resolute;--the rest, Ere yet success the enterprise had blessed, _3545 Leagued with me in their hearts;--their meals, their slumber, Their hourly occupations, were possessed By hopes which I had armed to overnumber Those hosts of meaner cares, which life's strong wings encumber.