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]