Manfred.

From my youth upwards My spirit walk'd not with the souls of men, Nor look'd upon the earth with human eyes; The thirst of their ambition was not mine; The aim of their existence was not mine; My joys, my griefs, my passions, and my powers, Made me a stranger; though I wore the form, 150I had no sympathy with breathing flesh, Nor midst the creatures of clay that girded me Was there but one who-- but of her anon. I said with men, and with the thoughts of men, I held but slight communion; but instead, My joy was in the Wilderness, to breatheThe difficult air of the iced mountain's top,Where the birds dare not build, nor insect's wing Flit o'er the herbless granite; or to plunge Into the torrent, and to roll along 160On the swift whirl of the new breaking wave Of river-stream, or ocean, in their flow. In these my early strength exulted; or To follow through the night the moving moon, The stars and their development, or catch The dazzling lightnings till my eyes grew dim; Or to look, list'ning, on the scatter'd leaves,While Autumn winds were at their evening song. These were my pastimes, and to be alone; For if the beings, of whom I was one,-- 170Hating to be so,-- cross'd me in my path, I felt myself degraded back to them,And was all clay again. And then I dived, In my lone wanderings, to the caves of death,Searching its cause in its effect, and drew From wither'd bones, and skulls, and heap'd up dust,Conclusions most forbidden. Then I pass'd The nights of years in sciences, untaughtSave in the old-time; and with time and toil, And terrible ordeal, and such penance 180As in itself hath power upon the air And spirits that do compass air and earth, Space, and the peopled infinite, I made Mine eyes familiar with Eternity,Such as, before me, did the Magi, and He who from out their fountain dwellings raised Eros and Anteros, at Gadara, As I do thee,-- and with my knowledge grew The thirst of knowledge, and the power and joy Of this most bright intelligence.