The Arctic Queen | Page 3

of Heaven,
Too high for us to fix its source--that
spoke
Of an eternal, comprehensive Life,
The thought of which
doth haunt us. In return
We could bestow the knowledge which he
craved,
And link his name with ours through all the earth,
Fearless

of harm from one who only craves
The crown of Genius for his
soul-lit brow.
Almost I rowed my shallop to his feet;
Almost I
offered to convey him hither,
Yet feared so much, O, Queen, thy just
displeasure,
That I forbore.
"Long time he, gazing, stood;
And when he turned, 'twas with so
deep a sigh
The sound awakened in me strange regret,
Endless
reproach, and grief before unknown.
Art angry with thy maiden,
peerless Queen?"
Over the lustrous forehead of OENE
A shadow came, and deepened
in her eyes.
"I might have slain thee both, if thou hadst ventured;
For it is part of
our ancestral law,
The most immutable, to guard ourselves,
With
our severest powers, from envious Man.
Yet, as thou sayest, he might
have fed our hearts
With sweet immortal food--aye, given us souls,

If such things be,--worth half my priceless realms.
No more--no more!
KOLONA! take thy place!"
As a soft flower shrinks from the coming night,
Amid protecting
leaves, KOLONA shrank,
Amid her tresses, from her sovereign's
eyes,
So gloomy yet so kind; and mutely stood
Amid the bright and
coyly wondering train.
A band of sprites, armed with sharp, silver spears,
With
pearl-encrusted garb and gleaming sandals,
Dwelling low down the
land, even amid men,
The Queen's advance guard, giving due alarm

Of all attacks, taking short flights by night,
And reconnoitering the
southern world,--
Had sent a group to counsel with their Queen.

These, now, had much to say of an adventure
Which took them
almost to the Tropic Zone:--
How they had blighted fruit; and
mildews cast
Over the fields; and blasted flowering trees;
Nipping
the hopes of gaudy butterflies,
Doting on honeyed flowers to fill their

mouths;
Chilling the saucy birds within their nests;
Ruining the
rainbow hues of many a garden;
Pricking the insect world with their
fine spears,
And disappointing mortals of their wish.
Their somewhat boastful discourse these had ceased,
When came in
hosts a crowd around the Pole,
Parting on each side to make way for
one,
A stranger, craving audience of their Queen.
What saw those
weird and piercing eyes, full turned
To meet the coming throng?--a
singular sight,
Which filled them with bright anger and surprise!
Up
from the sea, along a silvery path,
A mortal came; her girlish feet the
first
That ever pressed the veritable Pole;
And not more strange to
her was this wild queen,
And all the fairness of these maids of honor,

Than was her sunny beauty unto them.
The fluttering brightness of
her golden hair,
The lustrous darkness of her eyes, the warmth
Of
tropic tints upon her brow and cheek,
The dimpled fullness of her
form, appeared
In vivid contrast with their fairer charms.
She held
an offering of gorgeous flowers--
Those most renowned for
fragrance--in her hands,
Which, as she reached the platform, she held
forth
With a most winning, most beseeching air.
Amazed at such
presumption, on the maid,
Queen OENE's brow darkened in sudden
wrath.
"Warriors! do ye permit this sight!" she cried.
The lightest breath of that majestic voice
Had ever been with prompt
obedience met;
But now, though hoarse and deep as surging sea,

No spear was lowered and no arrow bent.
The Pole-Queen raised
aloft her pale right arm;--
She stamped her haughty feet upon the
pave,--
And all the Powers of the vast Frigid Zone
Were in
commotion terrible:--the earth
Shook till the people reeled, and
reeling, fell;
The circle of white gems about the throne
Threw off
strange darts of light which smote like steel: Swift whirling round with
inconceivable speed
A host of Northern Lights sprang into air,
And,
battling round their Queen, confused and wild,
Blent with each other

in the fierce affray.
The frightened stars paled in the distant sky;

And spectres rushed on shadowy steeds of grey
Down the flushed
firmament; and shining spears,
Held by invisible hands, whirled high
o'erhead.
Pale mortals in the far off Torrid Zone
Saw wonders in
the Northern air with fear;
And when an inward trembling shook the
Pole
Central through all the earth, in distant lands
The mountains
belched forth fire on fated cities.
Behind the throne suddenly arose a shower,
As 'twere of
phosphorescent flakes of snow,
Straight upward like a fountain, and
then fell
In glowing sparks wide over all the land.
The surging sea
dashed its bewildered waves
Against the foreheads of gigantic bergs,

Walking, like drunken men, the noisy deep.
Anon the POLE was
calm. Uninjured stood
The mortal maid before the great OENE;

While near, a thousand prostrate subjects lay
Slain by an angry
sovereign disobeyed.
"Queen of this strange and spectral land, wilt thou
Not show thy favor
to a lonesome child
Come wandering all this way, impelled by love?

Not hate, ambition, curiosity,
Have led me to thy fair and fearful
presence.
I have no power, am but a weak young girl;
And chance,
alone, has thus revealed to me
The mystic glory of this unknown
world,
With thy bright self and this enchanted isle,--
This pearl
upon the bosom of the deep
So palely, purely fair--undreamed of
beauty!
Love is the sole excuse which I can urge
For