46. The noontide sun was darkened with that smoke, The winds of eve dispersed those ashes gray. The madness which these rites had lulled, awoke _4200 Again at sunset.--Who shall dare to say The deeds which night and fear brought forth, or weigh In balance just the good and evil there? He might man's deep and searchless heart display, And cast a light on those dim labyrinths, where _4205 Hope, near imagined chasms, is struggling with despair. 47. 'Tis said, a mother dragged three children then, To those fierce flames which roast the eyes in the head, And laughed, and died; and that unholy men, Feasting like fiends upon the infidel dead, _4210 Looked from their meal, and saw an Angel tread The visible floor of Heaven, and it was she! And, on that night, one without doubt or dread Came to the fire, and said, 'Stop, I am he! Kill me!'--They burned them both with hellish mockery. _4215 48. And, one by one, that night, young maidens came, Beauteous and calm, like shapes of living stone Clothed in the light of dreams, and by the flame Which shrank as overgorged, they laid them down, And sung a low sweet song, of which alone _4220 One word was heard, and that was Liberty; And that some kissed their marble feet, with moan Like love, and died; and then that they did die With happy smiles, which sunk in white tranquillity. NOTES: _3834 native home edition 1818. _3967 earthquakes edition 1818. _4176 reptiles']reptiles edition 1818. CANTO 11. 1. She saw me not--she heard me not--alone _4225 Upon the mountain's dizzy brink she stood; She spake not, breathed not, moved not--there was thrown Over her look, the shadow of a mood Which only clothes the heart in solitude, A thought of voiceless depth;--she stood alone, _4230 Above, the Heavens were spread;--below, the flood Was murmuring in its caves;--the wind had blown Her hair apart, through which her eyes and forehead shone. 2. A cloud was hanging o'er the western mountains; Before its blue and moveless depth were flying _4235 Gray mists poured forth from the unresting fountains Of darkness in the North:--the day was dying:-- Sudden, the sun shone forth, its beams were lying Like boiling gold on Ocean, strange to see, And on the shattered vapours, which defying _4240 The power of light in vain, tossed restlessly In the red Heaven, like wrecks in a tempestuous sea.