3. Sunset.
The crimson glowing sun descends
Down, down to the widespread tremulous
Silver-grey Ocean.
Airy shapes, rose-tinted,
Float in his wake, and across the sky
From the glimmering cloud-veils of Autumn,
With mournful death-pallid visage
Bursts forth the moon;
Following her, bright facets of light,
Nebulous, glimmer the stars.

Once in wedlock united
Shone in Heaven
Luna the Goddess and Sol the God;
And there hovered and swarmed around and about them
The stars, their innocent children.

2. Twilight.
On the yellow shore of ocean
Burthened with thought, I was sitting, and lonely.
The sun sank lower and lower, and threw
Crimsoning paths athwart the waters;
And the white and unending waves,
Urged by the driving tide,
Foamed and resounded nearer and nearer.
A marvellous noise as of whisper and whistle,
Of laughter and murmurs, sighing and sobbing,
And through it all pierced a sound as of song,
A gentle homely song, sung by a cradle.
Methought that I heard distant echoes
Of lovely old-world stories,

1. The Coronation.
Y E verses, O my valiant verses!
Up, up, and be ye armed!
Let all the trumpets flourish,
And raise upon a shield
The youthful Maiden,
Who now enthrals my heart,
Aye, my whole heart as Queen!

All hail, all hail, young Queen!
From the sun above me
Snatch I the shining, ruddy gold,
And weld therefrom a coronet
For thine anointed head.
From the fluttering silk of Heaven's blue canopy
I'll cut a costly fragment,
And hang it as a coronation-robe

But all the eunuchs grumbled
When my voice rang out with force;
They grumbled and they mumbled,
My singing was very coarse.

And daintily sounded and cheerly
Their tinkling falsetto notes,
The crystalline fiorituri
Shrilled gay from the bird-like throats.

They sang too in accents pathetic,
Of love — its raptures and fears;
Delights so truly aesthetic
Drowned all the ladies in tears.

Here, Unter den Linden , my friend,
Your heart will be satisfied;
For here you may find, without end,
Fair women's beauty and pride.

They blossom so dainty and sweet,
In their delicate silks attired,
Like " Flowers on wandering feet, "
Said a poet in words inspired.

Ah, the hat with its sweeping plumes,
Ah, the folds of the Kashmire shawl,
Ah, the youthful cheek and its bloom,

O shame me not, my darling fair —
Unter den Linden , greet me not;
Soon we shall meet at home, and there
All shall be settled and forgot.

PART THE THIRD

Queen OF G ERAR and A BIMELECH

R ECITATIVE

Queen . How dar'st thou see my face, thus blown and bloated ,
With these dire sorrows thou hast heap'd upon us!
Art thou not married? am I not thy wife?
Canst thou bestow thine heart upon another,
And not be perjur'd? But behold thy crime,
Lest it shou'd not be criminal enough,

PART THE SECOND

R ECITATIVE

S ARAH . Is this a garden, that a silver fountain?
Are these sweet flow'rs, and those embow'ring shades?
No — nature in distress denies it all.

AIR

There is no rose to minds in grief;
There is no lilly for despair;
Tears and distraction are relief,
And yews and willows we must wear.

PART I

FIRST CHORUS

Welcome Abraham and his train
To Abimelech's domain;
Welcome, O ye great distrest!
To our peaceful bed of rest:
Welcome ye congenial souls
To our board and to our bowls;
Welcome Abraham and his train
To Abimelech's domain.

A BIMELECH and S ARAH

Recitative

I

MONOLOGUE

Macello de' Corvi. A room in M ICHAEL A NGELO'S house .

M ICHAEL A NGELO , standing before a model of St. Peter's .

MICHAEL ANGELO .

Better than thou I cannot, Brunelleschi,
And less than thou I will not! If the thought
Could, like a windlass, lift the ponderous stones
And swing them to their places; if a breath
Could blow this rounded dome into the air
As if it were a bubble, and these statues
Spring at a signal to their sacred stations,