The Sibyl of the Sources of the Deep 20 Heard nor replied, but, indistinct and wan, Went as a Dream that through the worlds of Sleep Leads the charm'd soul of labour-wearied man; And ev'n as man and dream, so, side by side, Glideth the mortal with the gliding guide. Glade after glade, beneath that forest tree 21 They pass,--till sudden, looms amid the waves, A dismal rock, hugely and heavily, With crags distorted vaulting horrent caves; A single moonbeam through the hollow creeps: Glides with the beam the Lady of the deeps. Then Arthur felt the Dove that at his breast 22 Lay nestling warm--stir quick and quivering, His soothing hand the crisped plumes caress'd;-- Slow went they on, the Lady and the King: And, ever as they went, before their way O'er prison'd waters lengthening stretch'd the ray. Now the black jaws as of a hell they gain; 23 The Lake's pale Hecate pauses. "Lo," she said, "Within, the Genii thou invadest reign. Alone thy feet the threshold floors must tread-- Lone is the path when glory is the goal;-- Pass to thy proof--O solitary soul!" She spoke to vanish--but the single ray 24 Shot from the unseen moon, still palely breaketh The awe that rests with midnight on the way; Faithful as Hope when Wisdom's self forsaketh-- The buoyant beam the lonely man pursued-- And, feeling God, he felt not Solitude. No fiend obscene, no giant spectre grim 25 (Born or of Runic or Arabian Song), Affronts the progress through the gallery dim, Into the sudden light which flames along The waves, and dyes the stillness of their flood To one red horror like a lake of blood. And now, he enters, with that lurid tide, 26 Where time-long corals shape a mighty hall: Three curtain'd arches on the dexter side, And on the floors a ruby pedestal, On which, with marble lips, that life-like smiled, Stood the fair Statue of a crowned Child: It smiled, and yet its crown was wreath'd of thorns, 27 And round its limbs coil'd foul the viper's brood; Near to that Child a rough crag, deluge-torn, Jagg'd, with sharp shadow abrupt, the luminous flood; And a huge Vulture from the summit, there, Watch'd, with dull hunger in its glassy stare. Below the Vulture in the rock ensheathed, 28 Shone out the hilt-beam of the diamond glaive; And all the hall one hue of crimson wreathed, And all the galleries vista'd through the wave; As flush'd the coral fathom-deep below, Lit into glory from the ruby's glow.