Page:The Works of Lord Byron (ed. Coleridge, Prothero) - Volume 5.djvu/669

CANTO IV.] Did they with Ocean's hidden sovereigns dwell,

And sound with Mermen the fantastic shell?

Did Neuha with the mermaids comb her hair

Flowing o'er ocean as it streamed in air?

Or had they perished, and in silence slept

Beneath the gulf wherein they boldly leapt?

VI.

Young Neuha plunged into the deep, and he

Followed: her track beneath her native sea

Was as a native's of the element,

So smoothly—bravely—brilliantly she went,

Leaving a streak of light behind her heel,

Which struck and flashed like an amphibious steel.

Closely, and scarcely less expert to trace

The depths where divers hold the pearl in chase,

Torquil, the nursling of the northern seas,

Pursued her liquid steps with heart and ease.

Deep—deeper for an instant Neuha led

The way—then upward soared—and as she spread

Her arms, and flung the foam from off her locks,

Laughed, and the sound was answered by the rocks.

They had gained a central realm of earth again,

But looked for tree, and field, and sky, in vain.

Around she pointed to a spacious cave,

Whose only portal was the keyless wave,