Hymns To The gods And Other Poems, Albert Pike

y

HYMNS TO THE GODS
AND OTHER POEMS
by

GEN. ALBERT PIKE
EDITED BY MRS. LILIAN PIKE ROOME
Daughter

of the

Author

ILLUSTRATED

Little Rock, Arkansas

Fred W. Allsopp
1916

Copyrighted 1899

By Mrs.

I^ilian

Pike Roome and Fred W. Allsopp
Copyrighted 1916

By Mrs. Lilian Pike Roome and Fred W. Allsopp

OCT 16 1918

DEMOCRAT

P.

«

L.

CO. LITTLE ROCK.

CONTENTS
HYMNS TO THE GODS AND OTHER POEMS
Page

Hymns

to the

Gods

5-47

Latona

48-56

To

57-62
the Planet Jupiter.
Lines Written on the Rocky
63-65
Mountains

(When

Ode.

Shall

Nations, Etc.).
in

Santa Fe

71-73
74-93

Ariel

94-97
Invocation
Ode to the Mocking Bird... 98-100
101-102
Similes.
103-104
Apostrophe
Lines Written on the Mountains West of the Rio
105-108
del Norte
109-111
To the Moon..
112-113
Night on the Arkansas
114-119
Buena Vista...
Evening Conversation, An. 120-133
...134-137
Death in the Desert
138-140
To the Mocking Bird....
141-143
Ora Atque Labora
144-145
Brown October
146-151
Taos._
Sunset in Arkansas
152-154

When

California

Foreign

Land

Fantasma
Monotone.
First

Was

The

Wild-Flower

a

155-158

Dirge,

of Spring,

176-179
180-181
182-184
185-189
190-192

A......

Voyage of Life, The
Dying Wife, The...

To

Ambition.....

Home

193
194-214
215-128

Dead Chase, The
Lament for Dixie

219
220-224
225-226

Jubilate,.

Reflections

Reunion
Night:

A

.227-232

Reverie......

Invitation,

...162-163

164-172
173-175

__

The.
66-67
68-70

.„

159-161

Stuggle for Freedom,

the

Spring.....

Noon

Page

Autumn

An...

Morning: A Lament
Midnight: A Lament
Fall of Poland
France

_

233-236
237-241
242-246
247-249
250-251

Shelley...

252-257

Hymn

258-260
261-263

Disunion
Stanzas to

My

Sister..

Ann

264-266
267-269

HYMNS TO THE GODS.
No.

1.

TO HERA.
I.

Mother
Our

of

Gods! devoutly we incline

willing knees before

thy holy shrine,

Where Imbrasus runs seaward, strong and
Through the green

plains of Samos.

swift,

Lo! we

lift

Gladly to thee our many-voiced strain.

Sung never

to thy Majesty in vain.

The day wears on; the expanding sun stoops

low;

bow

While, in the east, thy Messenger's bent

Gladdens the eyes of eager worshippers.

A

soft,

sweet wind thy garlands lightly

Where thy loved
White

And

lilies

flowers, dear

of

Heaven, Divine!

with the dittany entwine.

the gay poppy.

Our solemn chant

And

Queen

stirs.

Wilt thou deign to hear

—loud, earnest, and sincere

grant our prayer?

Come from Olympus down,

In regal glory, with thy starry crown.

And

sceptre flashing with great gems, whereon

Thy cuckoo

broods!

Let not the reluctant sun

Dip

in the sea, before our glad eyes greet

The

distant glitter of thy

Sandaled with ivory.

snowy

feet,

That shame the

And

flash

fau-est of our green isle's daughters,

upon the undulating

sea,

Like rays of star-light on a blue meer's slumbering waters!
11.

Power, Empire, Virtue,

by

Inspired

As hawks

And

to the sun,

reach

Toppling

thee, low

—these are thy

men

gift;

their eyes uplift.

and aim at high

estate.

while the mighty and the great.

it;

By

like towers, fall headlong.

thee urged.

Men in the sloughs of wretchedness immerged
Arm them anew with courage resolute.
Bear pain and

And grow

thee with constancy endued,

report and evil fortune clings

ill

More
Her

with endurance mute,

divine in virtuous fortitude.

Woman, by
In

evil

closely to her husband's side,

lovely patience ever to his aid

In the world's fierce

And

trials.

Power and Empire fade

are dissolved like a thin April cloud;

But Virtue

A

and brings

is

immortal.

Men

have bowed

thousand years before thy lofty shrines.

Clamoring for Power; but

r-arely

one

inclines.

In prayer for Virtue, Truth and Constancy,

Before thine altars the obsequious knee.

We,
Of these

prostrate at thy feet.

—

^the

only true and priceless treasure

Do humbly and
Thy Majesty

beseechingly entreat

benign to grant us ample measure.

—

"Power, Empire, Virtue, these are thy gifts;
Inspired by thee, low men their eyes uplift."

III.

Where

now?—

tarriest thou, Cithaeronaea,

Perhaps, upon some mountain's regal brow
Cyllene or

No

Oromedon—reclined,

cares of state disturbing thy great
mind,

Thou

gazest on our lovely Grecian

isles,

Along whose shores the tranquil ocean smiles
Serene as thou: around thee hoary

Swing

firs

and many an old beech stirs.
And, dreaming, murmurs, and the grave oaks
spread
their tall heads,

Their leafy limbs; and, watching overhead.

Thy

kingly hawk, scarce moving his wide
wings,

Rocked by the mountain-breezes,
Perhaps

On

in

idly swings:

some secluded, shady nook.

the green margin of a happy brook.

Lulled

by

its

music into tranquil

While thy young
Their patient

sleep,

Nymphs demurely round

vigil.

thee keep

In whatever spot

Of rarest beauty,—cave, lawn,

dell,

or grot,

Cool glade, deep vale, or silver-sanded
shore.
Or river-bank shaded with sycamore,

Hearken, oh, lovely Queen!

To

the loud echo of our plaintive voices:

Approach us while the laughing Earth is
green.
And the young Spring in buds and golden flowers

rejoices.

—

!

IV.

Oh, Queen! beloved of

all

the laughing Hours,

Let snowy-shouldered Hebe, crowned with flowers,
Before the rising of the evening-star,

Harness the peacocks to thy jewelled car:
Leave, for a time, the mighty Thunderer's

And thy
To our

On

side,

swift birds let dextrous Iris guide

Stay not thy flashing wheels

fair shore.

the dark Euxine, ploughed with

many

Or where the vexed Propontis hoarsely

keels.

swells;

In Cos, or Naxos, or the Arcadian dells;

Come, Heaven's wonder! come

Where thou wast

By

born, and

those sweet hours

Were

When

first

encircled

first;

by the Seasons nursed
all

thy virgin charms

by Jove's mighty arms,

thy large eyes, magnificently bright,

Looked into
And, on

his with soft

his breast hiding

Thou hadst no peer

By

when

to our island,

and loving

light.

thy blushing

in loveliness

face.

and grace,

those sweet hours, come! while the sun yet slides

Down

the sky's slant, and bless these innocent brides.

Who

watch the western sky.

Their breasts with fear and rapture palpitating:

Come!

thou,

who must

their virgin zones untie.

Lest they, despairing, weep, and faint with longer waiting.
1845.

No.

2.

TO POSEIDON.
I.

God

mighty deep! wherever now

of the

The waves beneath thy brazen
Whether thy

axles

bow;

strong, proud steeds, wind-winged

Trample the storm-vexed waters round then

and

wild,

piled,

Swift as the lightning flashes that reveal

The quick

gyrations of each massive wheel,

While round and under thee, with hideous

The broad

roar,

Atlantic, with thy scourging sore.

Thundering

like

antique Chaos in his spasms.

In heaving mountains and deep-yawning chasms.
Fluctuates endlessly; while through the gloom,

Their glossy sides and thick manes flecked with foam,

Career thy coursers, neighing with

mad

glee,

In fierce response to the tumultuous sea:

Whether they tread the sounding sands below,

Among

wrecked

ships,

where the green sea-plants grow.

Broad-leaved, and sighing with eternal motion

Over the

pale, cold tenants of the ocean:

Oh, come! our lofty altars for thee stand,

Smoking with

incense,

on the

level strand.

II.

Perhaps with loose rein now thy horses roam

Over the Adriatic.

No

salt

foam

Stains their fine limbs, but softly, leisurely,

They tread with

silver feet that

still,

calm

sea,

Fanning the waters with their floating manes,

That gleam

like

mist in sunshine; while

From clamorous trumpets round thy

And

shrill strains

chariot ring,

green-robed sea-gods praising thee, their king,

Chaunt loudly; while Apollo bends

his gaze

Lovingly on thee, and his soft clear rays

Tame thy
On

The

wild coursers' eyes.

air feels

warm

the sea's forehead, where the cold, harsh storm

So lately thundered, and the rebel winds

That ^olus

in

cave and den

Beat their broad wings.

Thou

binds.

Perhaps long leagues below

sleepest in green caves,

Brighter than sapphires:

The sand around

now

where sea-flowers glow

many a monster cumbers

thee; aged Triton slumbers

Care-free and

still;

From many a

nook, watching thy dreamless sleep.

and

glad, sweet, bright eyes

10

peep

III.

Perhaps thou art resting on some Indian

Under a broad, thick

tree,

where,

isle,

many a

mile.

Stretches a sunny shore, with golden sands.
Piled in fantastic shapes

Where the

And

curl

by Naiads' hands;

come

small waves

upon the beach,

coyly, one

like

by

one,

molten gold,

Thick-set with jewellery rare and old,

Sea-nymphs

Make

sit

near,

thee such melody, as in deep

Of a May-night,

When,

and with small

is

by the

frolicking within

They sound

delicate shells

dells,

made,

Fairies

some sober shade,

their silver flutes, soft, faint,

and sweet,

In strange but exquisite tunes; and delicate feet

Dance

softly

on the grass-blades gemmed with dew.

That bend, not break:
So lately through the

all

wanton

spice-trees,

With overladen wings that loan
Wealth

of perfume.

And come

airs that

hover there,

to the air

Oh! wilt thou not

with them to our

blew

new

arise,

sacrifice?

1829.

11

—

No.

3.

TO DEMETER.
I.

Goddess of bounty! at whose spring-time

call,

When on the dewy earth thy first tones fall,
And echo in its heart, each young green blade
Springs, wondering, into
Is liveried

with

new

Where they had
The glad

Among
The

life;

grass,

—from each

dumb, and

nestled,

birds come,

the dull, gray glade

and sing

the thronging leaves; and fast and free

rivers run, crushing their icy chains.

Through green clad

The Goddess

valleys:

of all beauty,

To whom

Drawn by winged

And

—thou whose heart

dragons,

their blossoms

Oh pour thy
!

fields,

Thou, that

his cool light, dost

all

chiefly art

the laughing earth looks up, and yields

choicest treasures:

Sheds

rains,

Thou who

ever in the sunny meads and

Her

dull of soul.

for joy to thee.

Broken by thee and by thine April

Is

chill hole,

in

thy

car.

when the morning

touch the budding

woo the trembling

trees,

breeze;

light

Of truth and joy upon our souls tonight.

And

grant to us great plenty and sweet ease!
12

star

II.

Benignant Goddess of the rustling corn!

Thou

to

whom

reapers sing, and on the lawn

Bind up gigantic sheaves

of full-eared

While innocent maids, with

little,

wheat;

dancing

feet.

Bring thee gay poppies, weave for thee a crown

Of modest

To

garland thy

Among
With

and gracefully bend down

flowers,
full

baskets; at whose side,

the sheaves, young Bacchos loves to ride,

bright, clear, sparkling eyes,

All wine-stained in the glad

and

feet

and mouth

and sunny south

Perhaps ye ride among the leafy vines,

While round thy neck one rosy arm he twines,

And

with the other hand

And

presses the

To thy

loved

And crowns

plump

lips,

still

gathers up

grapes,

and holds the cup

then throws aside the wine.

thee with the green leaves of the vine.

Kisses thy brow, thy mouth, thine eyes most bright

With love and

joy.

Some favored

If

those dear eyes

now

hill

Of vine-clad Thrace, oh! come, while

And with them

light

bless the

coming

all is still.

of this night

III.

Lo! the small stars

And wander up

rise

from the

the sky.

silver ocean,

A sweet
13

emotion

stirs the

And

white bosoms of the thin, soft clouds;

the light mist, that the gray

Gleams

like

a rain of diamonds

Lo! a soft blush of light

is

hills

enshrouds,

in the ah*.

rising there,

Like silver shining through a tint of red;

And soon

the queenly

moon

her love will shed

Like pearl-mist on the islands and the sea.

Which thou

wilt cross to

view our mystery.

Lo! we have torches here for thee, and urns.

Where

On

incense with delicious odor burns,

altars piled with glowing fruit, as

And

Flowers gathered while the

And

waiting altars,

Thy
Shall

And

Dawn

Indian spices: patiently

Our earnest watch

Thy

sweet

ripe as thy sweet lips; with yellow wheat,

for thee,
till

lay half-asleep.

we keep

bending before

to our fair shore

chariot-wheels
roll,

while Ocean to the burden reels,

utters to the sky a stifled roar.

1830.

14

No.

4.

TO DIONUSOS
Where

Of some

The

On

art thou, Dionusos?

the

hills

land afar, where sweet wine

fair

fills

clustered grapes, dost stain thy ripe lips red

With

Thy

rich old juice, that

votaries

men

long ages dead

—pressed and hid?

Dost thou hold up

'Twixt thee and the sun thy jewel-cinctured cup,

With luminous rubies brimmed?
Lit

by the

car,

blaze of the far northern star.

Roll over Thracia's

Shout thy

Or doth thy

mad

hills,

while

all

around

bacchanals, and rings the sound

men

Of merry revelry, and distant
Start at thy clamor?

Or

in

some

cool glen

Reclinest thou, under dark ivy leaves.
Idling the

Gay

day

off,

while each

mad Faun weaves

garlands for thee, sipping a great bowl

Of stout, strong wine; and the dismaying
Of thy all-conquering wheels no more

But thy strong

tigers,

Crouch at thy
lacchos!

Thy

come

with no

fierce

is

roll

heard.

dream

stirred.

feet?

to

meet

worshippers, that here with merry word

Of olden song thy godhead long to greet.
15

II.

Oh, thou

who

lovest pleasure! at

Wine's warmth
In

all

is

always

felt;

who

mad, wanton mirth; who

Of merry maidens

joinest,

whose heart
takest part

in the

dance

where the glance

Of bright black eyes, and twinkling of white

Of lovely

girls delight thee,

feet,

when they meet

— Giver of peace
careworn, sad men! —whose smiles make cease

Under the summer moon!

To

all

The

piercing pains of grief; for

Weave

maids

ivy garlands, and in pleasant glades

Hang up
Gk)

whom young

thine image, and, with

happy

looks,

dancing round, while shepherds, with long crooks.

Join the glad company, and glide about

With merry laugh and many a hearty shout.
Staining with rich dark grapes each

That most they

love;

little

cheek

and then with sudden

Seizing the willing hand,

About the green mound:

freak,

and dancing on

—Oh, thou merry son

Of supreme JOVE!

Wherever thou dost rove.

Among the thick vines, come, ere day is done.
And let us too thy sunny influence prove.

16

III.

Where
The

art thou,

CONQUEROR!—before whom fell
when the strong

jewelled kings of Ind,

swell

Of thy great multitudes came on them, and

The mystic thursos

Was shaken
Grew

thy red right hand

in

over them,

faint, as

till

every soul

smit with lightning; when the

roll

Of thy great chariot-wheels was on the neck
Of mighty potentates;

Thy

tigers

and wild lynxes on the shore

Of the Indian sea, and

With sparkling and
Poured on

Gave

forth

thou didst check

till

its

angry roar

delicious Grecian

waters,

new

still its

till

odors,

the contented brine

and a pleasant scent

Of rare perfume; and haggard men,

With

When

wine

drank

long, sharp sickness,

spent

all

in life

anew.

the rich sea-breeze through their lattice blew

Bacchos!

who tramplest Care with thy

Oh, hither turn thy

And

light our

tigers,

happy

With the radiance
Come, with thy

hair

of

strong and

soft feet.
fleet,

isles

thy smiles

dewy with

wine, and meet

Those who, for thee, have trod the weary miles.

17

—

!

IV.

Come

to our ceremony!

Lo,

we

rear

An altar of green turf, the sea-beach near,
And garland it with vine-shoots, and the leaf
Of glossy

ivy.

Far from us

Come! and chase

Lo upon the

!

!

Full cups of wine,

till all

we pour

along the shore
See! a mist

Eddies the luscious odor.
Is rising

turf

all grief

from the wine-stained turf

Alas! 'twas not his cry!)

— (Ah,

hist!

— Come with thy train

Of riotous Satyrs, pouring forth a strain
Of utmost

shrillness

on the noisy pipe.

Come, with thine eye and

And wondrous

rare,

Rolling along the

and

hills,

lip of

let

beauty ripe

us hear thy wheels

while twilight steals

Quietly up, and dusky, sober Night
Is

hindered from her star-track by the light

Of thy wild

With

all

tigers' eyes!

thy

Cross the calm sea

mad and merry company

The

stars shall

And

ere

wax and wane.

day comes

We'll wander over

hill

again.

and vale with

Sending afar a loudly joyous

thee.

strain.

1829.

18

'Hear, 'Aphrodite! Hear our rustic song!
Thalassia, hear! for unto thee belong
All pleasant offerings; ring-doves coo to thee,
While they entwine their arch'd necks lovingly."

No.

5.

TO 'APHRODITE.
I.

Oh, thou most lovely and most beautiful!

Wherever cooingly thy white doves

Thy

bright eyes to soft slumber; whether on

The truant south-wind

To some

And

lull

still

floating, or

if

gone

cloud in dreamy sleep that swings,

there reclining, while

its

snowy wings

Blush into crimson: whether thy delicate wheels,

Over green sward that scarce the pressure

feels.

Brush the bright dewdrops from the bending

grass,

Leaving the poor, green blades to look, alas

— (Ah! so dost thou
Dim other eyes and brighter!) —whether now

With dim eyes at the moon,

Thou

floatest over the sea, while

Of thy

fair

doves

Sweet odours

is

They know

How

wet, and sea-maids bring

for thee,

They have not

each white wing

— (Ah! how foolish they!

felt

thy smart,

not, while in ocean-waves they play.

cruel

and strong thou

art!)

II.

Hear, 'Aphrodite!

Hear our

rustic song!

Thalassia, hear! for unto thee belong
19

——
All pleasant offerings; ring-doves coo to thee,

While they entwine their arch'd necks lovingly,

Among

the murmuring leaves; thine are

all

sounds

Of pleasure on earth and where abounds
;

Most

we

happiness, for thee

surely look.

In the dusk depths of some leaf -shaded nook

Thou

hidest frequently, where soft winds

Thy sunny
Thy

curls,

and

wave

cool airs fondly lave

radiant brow, and ruffle the delicate wings

Of thy tired doves; where

With

small, bright eyes,

In notes that never but

his quaint love-tale sings,

some

little,

by thee

are heard.

In some such spot dreaming thou

And

strange, sweet bird,

liest

now,

with half-open eye,
Fairest of heaven, do thou

Drinkest in beauty.

Hear kindly our

faint cry!

III.

Doris! from

Take

light

Doubles

whom

and

all

life;

things

for

his glee; thou,

upon

whom
whom

Continually sings; whose

this earth

even laughing Mirth
the joyous bird

name

is

heard

In every pleasant noise; at whose

warm

All things look brighter; for

More

whom

glance

wine doth dance

merrily within the agate vase,

To meet thy

lip;

Joy leaps on

faster,

glimpsing at whose sweet face,

with a clearer laugh,
20

And Sorrow
And

flings into

the sea his

staff,

dim

tossing back the hair from his

Looks up again to long-forgotten
While Avarice forgets to count

And even
Dear as

skies;

his gold,

wealth untold,

offers thee his

Thou

his heart's blood.

to

and with thy looks

us,

Bless and console us

whose high might

bow.

All things are glad to

Come unto

eyes,

of light.

now!

IV.

Hear

At whose sweet

And

Thou whom

us, 'Ourania!
will

all

obey!

rough Satyrs leave their play,

gather wild flowers to adorn the hair

Of the young nymphs, and nuts and berries bear

To

those they fancy most.

They

leap in

Paphia, to

whom

awkward mood through the dusk gloom

Of darkening oak-trees, or at sunny noon
Play unto thee, on their rude pipes, a tune

Of wondrous languishment!

Thou, whose great power

Brings up young sea-maids from each ocean-bower.

With many an

idle

song to sing to thee,

And

bright locks floating mist-like on the sea,

And

glancing eyes, as

They

if

spied their lovers,

Small bubbles

flit,

in distant caves

—

(so

along blue waves

mocking the
21

genial sun;)

Let cares no more oppress

Thy

servitors! but, ere our feast

Our new

done,

is

loves kindly bless!

V.
Oh, thou

who once

Bedew the

didst weep,

pitying woods!

and with sad

by those great

tears

fears

That haunted thee when young Adonis lay

With dark eyes drowned

in death;

That saw him, wounded,

fall,

On

—by that dull day

with

many a moan.

the dead leaves, and sadly and alone

Breathe out his life;—deign thou to look upon
All maidens

who

for too great love

Come

And

pity them!

Her

fh-st faint stars;

when Night

to us

and

let

grow wan
brings

us hear the wings

Of thy most beautiful and bright-eyed doves,

Fanning the breathless

air.

Let

all

the Loves

Fly round thy chariot, with sweet, low songs

Murmuring upon
For thy

Come! each maid

their lips.

fair presence,

longs

Goddess of true Love!

Float through the odorous

And, as thy light wheels

roll,

air,

from us remove

Sadness and love-sick care.

VL
Lo! we have

To bum
Fit for

many

kinds of incense here.

to thee; wine as the sunshine clear,

young Bacchos;

flowers
22

we have

here, too,

Gathered by

Was
To

fresh

place

when

star-light,

upon them; myrtle-wreaths we

upon thy

thy temples.

For

beauty.

all fair

isle,

With honey

in their

To be

'Tis the proper

time

Thou, who lovest the clime

where roses bud and blow

Of our dear

own

bear.

bright, luxuriant hair,

And shade

Like thine

the morning-dew

bosoms, and a glow

cheek, lifting their modest heads,

refreshed with the transparent beads

Of diamond dew, paling the young moon's rays,

Our

We

altars

burn

for thee,

and on the blaze

pour rich incense from great golden vases.

Queen Cypria! hear our words.

And

hither urge, circled with

Thy team

of

all

the Graces,

snow- winged birds
1829.

No.

6.

TO APOLLON.
I.

Bright-haired Apollon

A

blessing to the world

Aye

Thou

!

!

that ever art

whose generous heart

overflows with love and light and

Thou, at whose glance

all

With happiness! to whom,

life

things on earth are rife
in early Spring,
•23

—
Flowers

To

their heads,

lift

whether they laughing cling

the steep mountain's side, or in the vale

Thou, to

Timidly nestle!
Chill,

whom

the pale

weary Earth looks up, when Winter

With patient
Put forth

and the storm-shattered

gaze,

trees

and drink deep draughts

fresh leaves,

Poured from thy

flees.

brilliant

orb

Thou

!

in

whose

of light.

bright,

Coruscant rays, the eagle feeds his eye

With

flashing

Screams out

And

fire,

his

the high

and

far, far

haughty joy!

titles

up on high

By

all

the names

that thy Godhead claims,

Phoibos, or Clarios, golden-haired Apollo,

Cunthios, or Puthios,

The

—cease for a time to follow

fleeing Night,

Our hymn

to thee,

and hear

and smilingly draw near!

II.

Most
Pours

Thou, whose great heart's swell

exquisite poet!
itself

Thou who

out on mountain, lawn, and

dost touch

And make them
Inspired

them with thy golden

by whom the Poet's eyes perceive

Of the unquiet
its

feet.

for the Painter's use complete;

Great beauty everywhere,

Of

dell!

—

in the

slow heave

sea, or in the roar

resounding waters,

Of pleasant streams,

—

—on the shore

in the dark, jagged rift

Of savage mountains, where the black clouds
24

drift,

Flushed with swift Ughtning,

Of

solemnly and slow

silent Night, that

Walks up the sky.
Tinges

all

Double
All that

Oh, thou, whose influence

makes each sense

things with beauty,

delight,
is

—on the broad, dark brow

and clothes with a

young and

fair;

Flits far, like darkness!

while

delicate grace

the base

all

—thou that art

in truth

Incarnate lordliness, hear! while our youth

With earnest yearning

cry;

Answer our hymn, and come to

us,

Most high

III.

In quaint disguise, with wondrous grace and

Often thou makest, on thy golden

fire,

lyre.

Exquisite music, on smooth, sunny glades.

Where on the greensward dance the

village maids.

Their hair adorned with wild-flowers, or a wreath

Of thine own

Some

laurel; while, reclined

beneath

ancient oak, thou smilest at these elves,

As though thou wert

all

Sometimes thou playest

human
in the

like themselves.

darkening wood.

While Fauns glide forth, in dance grotesque and rude,
Flitting

among

the trees with

awkward

leap.

Like their god, Pan; and from fir-thickets deep

Come up the Satyrs, joining the mad crew,
And capering for thy pleasure. From each yew.
And beech, and oak, the wood-nymphs shyly peep,
25

!

To

see the revelry;

and from

its

The merry laughter wakes the

And music

cheers

startled

wood,

dusk, deep solitude.

its

Oh, come, and

sleep

let

the sound

Of thy sweet lyre eddy our

isle

around

IV.

Thou

Great Seer and Prophet!

The deepest-hidden

lore,

that teachest

and from

Dost pluck the Future, so that he

men

den

his

floats

by

In visible shape, apparent to the eye.

But robed with

visions: thou, in

whose high power

Are health and sickness: thou who

oft dost

shower

Great plagues on impious nations, with hot breath
Withering their
Like fiery mist

and raining sudden death

souls,

among them;

Like the sweet breeze after a

That

thrills

or, again,

summer

rain,

the earth like love, thou sendest out

Health, like a lovely child, that goes about,

With

soft,

white

feet,

Kissing with rosy

among

each poor pale cheek,

lip

Shaking perfume from

The

To
Is

the sick and weak,

its

white wings, and through

shriveled heart stirring the blood,

fill

the abandoned veins.

hjnnned by

Thy
Hear

all, let

anew

Oh, thou, whose

name

us, too, dare to claim

holy presence here!
us, bright

God, and lend a gracious ear!
26

V.

Hear us

Who

Thou master

!

of the springing

gloomy woods to throw

lovest in the

Thine arrows to the mark, Uke the keen
Of those that

From

And
To

the sun's quiver shot!

among

hide

Sounds

in the

flee,

safe

bears

timid as hares,

mountains

leaves,

on the

is

From whom grim

Thou, whose cry

!

autumn-woods, where whirl and

The brown dry
Bacchos

flight

the universe with light,

fill

lordly lions

bow,

fly

—when with his riotous train

hills,

and on the plain

Full-armed Demeter; when upon the sea

The

brine-gods blow their shells, and laughingly

Then thy

The broad world

rings with glee.

Stills into silence

every truant noise,

Pealing with utmost sweetness on the

And

in the echoes of the dancing

Over the sea and on the sounding

And eddying
Before

Draw

air, until all

its

voices

clear voice

hills,

rills.

plain.

wane

influence:

near, great God, before the

day goes hence!

VI.

By

that most fatal day,

Young Huakinthos

Was dimmed

fell,

when with a cry
and

with blood,

his

dark eye

— when, dying, on a bed
27

;

;

Of his own flowers he

laid his

wounded head,

Breathing great sighs; by those heart-cherished eyes

Of long-loved Huakinthos, by the sighs

That then,

On

oh,

young Apollon, thou

every gloomy

hill

Weeping away thy
Thine eyes with

didst pour

and desolate shore,

soul,

eclipse,

and making
till

dull

the chilled earth was

full

Of sad forebodings, for thy radiance dimmed
Prayers by pale priests in

To

many a

fane were

hymned

the pale-eyed Sim; the frightened Satyrs strayed

Long

Came

in the

dark woods, and then to the

to lament that thou wast

still

chill

glade

unkind

Artemis wept for love, and pained and pined

For

light

and

life:

by that most

fearful grief.

Oh! bright Apollon, hear, and grant

To

us

And

who

relief

cry to thee!

let us, ere

we

die,

thy glory see!
1829.

No.

7.

TO ARTEMIS.
I.

Most

graceful Goddess! whether

now thy

feet

Pursue the dun deer to their deep retreat
In the heart of some old wood, or on the side
28

Of some high mountain; where, most eager-eyed,

Thou

glidest

And arrow

on the chase, with bended bow,

at the string, a wondrous glow

Of exquisite beauty on thy cheek, and feet

White as the

As her

silver

soft rays,

Rattling to

moon, graceful and

—with quiver at thy back

thy steppings.

all

fleet

If

some track

In far-off Thessaly thou folio west up.

Brushing the dew from

many

a flower's

With head bent forward, harking
Of thy good hounds, while

in

to the

cup,

full

bay

the deep woods they,

Strong-limbed and swift, leap on with eager bounds.

And from

far hills their long,

deep note resounds.

Thy

sweetest music Orthia, hear our cry,

And

let

:

us worship thee, while far and high

Climbs up thy brother,

Upon

the earth,

The world

—while his light

falls full

—for when the night-winds

lull

to sleep, then to the lightless sky

Delia must glide, with robes of silver

And sunward

dew

eye!

11.

Perhaps thou hiest to some shady spot

Among

broad

trees, while frightened beasts

The clamor

of

Upon green

grass

Thou

hear not

thy hounds; there, dropping down

and leaves

all

sere

pillowest thy delicate head
29

and brown.

upon

Some

gnarled and moss-robed root, where soft winds run

Riot about thee, and thy

Thy death-winged

Nymphs

fair

point

arrows, or thy hair anoint

With Lydian odors; and thy strong hounds

lie

Lazily on the ground, and watch thine eye,

And watch

thine arrows, while thou hast a dream.

Perhaps

some deep-bosomed, shaded stream

in

Thou bathest now, where even the

loving

Sun

Catches no glimpse of thee; where shadows on

The waters dusk

collect,

and make

it

cool,

Like the wind-chilled wide sea, or some clear pool

Deep

in

a cavern; hanging branches dip

Their ringlets in the stream, or slowly drip

With tear-drops
But those

of clear

dew: before no eyes

of flitting wind-gods, each

nymph

hies

Into the deep, cool, rippling stream, and there

Thou

pillowest thyself

upon

Queen Cynthia, the

breast.

its

Fair.

in.

By

all

Upon

thine hours of pleasure
tall

!

—when thou wast

Latmos, moveless, tranced, and

lost

In boundless pleasure, ever gazing on

Thy

bright-eyed youngster;

Was

lighting remote seas, or at

Careering through the sky!

And

when the absent Sun
mid-noon

By

every tune

voice of joy that thrilled about the chords
30

Of thy great heart, when on

his words,

it fell

In that cool, shady nook, where thou hadst
brought

And

placed

Endumion;—where

fair

hands had taught

beauty to shine forth; where thy young maids
Had brought rare shells for him, and from the glades
All

All starry flowers, with precious stones,

and gems

Of utmost beauty, pearly diadems
Of ancient sea-gods: birds were there, that sang

And

carolled ever; living waters rang

Their changes at

times, to soothe the soul

all

Of thy Endumion; pleasant breezes stole

With

light feet

His dewy

lips.

through the nook, that they might

Ah! by those hours

Worth a whole

And

life

beautiful Aricia!

Thy

in heaven,

kiss

of bliss,

come

to us, fair

Take us under

gentle care.
1829.

No.

8.

TO ARES.
I,

Great War-God! mighty Ares! Hear our hymn,

Sung

to thee in the wood-recesses

dim

Of dusky Caria, near the Icariah wave!—
31

— —
!

!

When
And

war's red storms in lurid fury rave,

the fierce billows of his hungry tide

Over the groaning land sweep

When
And

;

far

gleaming

his thick legions, clad in

bristling thick with javelins,

In desperate conflict;

and wide;

madly

steel,

reel

—when the mighty roar

Peals upward, shaking heaven's great golden

Even

as the tumult of the

Shakes granite towers;

And

Desperation,

And

Fire

Then

riot,

maddened

floor,

sea

—when Fear, and Agony,
hand-in-hand.

and Famine waste the

lean, lank land:

thou, rejoicing, ragest through the field;

Like mountain-thunder clangs thy brazen shield

Thy

falchion, like the lightning, flashes far;

The frightened Earth, under thy sounding

car,

(Whirled swiftly by thy brazen-footed steeds,
Flight and

And

mad

Terror), shuddering, quakes

and

shivers;

ever, as the war's red surge recedes.

Brooks swelled with blood run downward to red

rivers.

11.

Turn thy wild coursers from our lovely land
Let not their hoofs trample our golden strand

Shake not thy spear above our

Nor turn

fruitful hills,

to blood the waters of our

rills!

Crush not our flowers with thy remorseless wheels,

Nor

let

our grain be trod with armed heels,
32

That the poor starve! Let not thy

With

Pestilence

sister ride,

and Famine, by thy

But come with Aphrodite

in

side;

thy arms

Enfolded, radiant with a thousand charms,

Her lovely head held on thy massive

Her sweet eyes soothing

Thy

into placid rest

fiery passions; while

her doves glide through

The sparkling atmosphere.

Thy

chest,

Bring with thee, too.

lovely children, at their mother's side;

Eros, whose form expands, and wings

When

sweet brother, Anteros,

his

The God

of tenderest love,

With

fair

Harmonia

And mingling music with

and

near,

faith sincere;

clinging to thy neck,

her glad caresses;

While the young Charities

With dew-enjewelled

is

grow wide,

flit

round, and deck

flowers thy loved one's golden tresses,

III.

through Abarimon,

Let thy harsh wheels

roll

Where Mount Imaus

glitters in the sun.

Throned

Make
The

To

like

there

a king, in solitary state:

more rugged and more desolate

frozen Scythian wildernesses; grind

dust the Indian rocks, and like the wind

Drive thy

And

fleet coursers

over Bactria's barbarous domains;

But spare the

And

through the Median plains.

leave

isles of

them

our beloved Greece,

sleeping tranquilly in peace.
33

!

Here, under an old, stately, branching oak,

Thine altar sendeth to the clouds

its

smoke.

Whereon the wolf and hungry vulture

bleed.

The magpie, and the bold and generous

We bow in

steed.

adoration at thy shrine.

Dark-bearded God, majestic and divine

Our

incense, burning, loads the eddying air.

And Kuthereia

joins us in our prayer.

Wilt thou not listen kindly to the strain

Which now around our

vine-clad hills

For when did Beauty ever sue

Even

in his sternest

mood meekly

is

pealing?

in vain.

to Valor kneeling?

1845.

No.

9.

TO PALLAS.
I.

Hear, blue-eyed Pallas! Eagerly

we

call.

Entreating thee to our glad festival.

Held

On

in the

sunny morning

of the year.

this our rosy isle, to thee

Thine

altar,

most dear.

builded by young maidens' hands,

Near the Carpathian's sparkling water stands,
34

Upon

the slant and sunny Rhodian shore,

Gracing the green lawn's undulating

Walled in with

Rampart the

trees,

floor,

which, sweeping wide around,

precincts of the holy ground.

Myriads

of roses, flushing full in bloom.

Send to

far Caria surge of rich perfume.

Like the glad incense of our prayer, which floats

Up
Of

silver flutes roll

Startling the

A

The

to the trembling stars.

ringing notes

through the echoing woods.

Fauns

shy solitudes.

in their

hundred boys, each

fairer

Over the greensward, clad

than a

girl.

in armor, whirl

A hundred

In thy wild mystic dance.

maids.

In white and gold, come from the dusky glades,

The

loveliest of

our beauty-blessed

isle,

Their small white feet gleaming like stars, that smile
In the dark azure of a moonless night.

They bear thy robe
Sleeveless,

of pure

and

stainless white.

embroidered richly with

Whereon thy deeds

fine gold.

are told.

Those, chiefly, done of old,

When, blazing

in the van,

thou didst the Giants

II.

Brain-born of Zeus

!

Thou who

dost give to

men

Knowledge and wisdom; and hast brought again
Science and art, in renovated youth,
35

fight.

And taught fair
Thou

to

whom

Greece to love and seek the truth;

and

artist

artificer,

Fearing thy potent anger to incur,

Bend down
In

all

beseechingly,

and pray

the cunning mysteries of their trade;

Inspired

by

Drink deep

thee,

young men, immersed

of learning, at

still

shine.

love Athene only, the Divine:

Old gray-haired sages pore on antique

And

feed with wisdom's

Inspired

The

by

oil

scrolls.

their burning souls.

thee, the prophet sees afar

signs of peace, the portents of grim war;

Foretells the strange

Of nations and

With

of

and wayward

genial rains will bless the

life

hail.

of those well loved

And make

destinies

men, and when the skies

Or vex the earth with

The

in cells.

Time's ancient wells.

Forget that Beauty's starry eyes

And

for aid

husbandman.

Thy

favor can

by thee

prolong,

hoar Eld youthful again and strong.

Oh, come to us! while glittering with dew

Young Day

still

crimsons the horizon's blue!

Come, Parthenos!

Nor

to thy beloved

home.

longer idly roam.

Where hungry oceans foam.

Round barbarous

continents and islands new.

36

III.

Oh, come not to us, clad in armor bright,
Intolerable unto mortal sight.

With

flashing spear,

and helm

of blazing gold.

Crested with griffin-guarded sphynx! nor hold

Thine

aegis, blazing

Wreathed with

with Medusa's eye,

Not

live serpents!

As when against the Giants thou

in warlike guise.

didst march.

With strong tread shaking earth and the sky's great
Terrific in

thy panoply of war,

Jove's lightning in thy right hand flashing far;
Till,

struck with fear and overpowering dread,

Heaven's baffled adversaries howling

Come

in

thy garb of peace, with kindly smile.

Breathing

new beauty on thy

With mystic

And

fled

veil

flowery

isle;

over thy dazzling brow.

soft feet, whiter than the

mountain-snow

Come to us over the exulting sea,
From thy Tegaean shrine in Arcady;
Thy

sacred dragon gliding o'er the waves,

While nymphs, emerging from deep ocean-caves,
Floating like stars upon the misty spray,

Carol around thee

And grim

many

a pleasant lay;

Poseidon, smiling at the strain,

Gives thee glad welcome to his vast domain;
37

arch.

—
And

Aiolos bears incense from the shores,

Where the mad Ganges

And

r

his great torrent

Indian sea, and

th'

all

roars,

pours

the trees rich odors rain.
IV.

Thou who the daring Argonauts
Over the stormy

sea's rebellious tide;

By Lemnos and by sunny
(Fair

isles,

that

didst guide

sit

Samothrace,

the waves with swan-like grace,)

By Troas and the dark Symplegades;
And send them, with a favorable breeze.
Through the wide Euxine

into Colchis; hear!

Oh, Virgin Goddess! and come smiling near,

While here we wait upon the

And

stretch, imploringly

Then

silver sands,

our suppliant hands!

shall our maidens, of long

summer

Embowered among the overshading

eves.

leaves,

(While, taught of thee, their sweet task they

Plying the distaff with a curious

fulfill,

skill,)

Tell of the time, when, brighter than a star,

Approaching on the azure sea

Thou

And

didst our

smile

When new

upon

afar.

humble ceremonies
their

budding

bless.

loveliness,

flowers sprang in every

sunny

New

odors loaded every pleasant gale.

And

whiter com, and richer wine and

vale.

oil,

Thenceforward paid the husbandman's glad
38

toil;

And

blander breezes, and serener skies

Thereafter blessed the

Oh, good and wise!

isle.

Oh, radiant Goddess!

Shall this sacred day-

Glide mournfully away,

Fading to evening gray.

And thou not

deign to glad our anxious, longing eyes?

1845.

No.

10.

TO HERMES.
I.

Hear, white-winged Messenger!

If

thy swift feet

Loiter within Heaven's starry walls, where meet

The Gods,
At

their nectar daintily to sip

indolent leisure; where thy beardless

lip

Utters such eloquence, that thine old foe.
Imperial Here, doth her hate forego.

And hang

entranced on thy sweet accents, while

Cypria rewards thee with inviting smile.

And
Till

wise Athene's cup stands waiting by,

thou hast ended;

Among

—whether, near the sky.

the palpitating stars thou soarest.

Or f oldest thy bright pinions

in

39

some

forest

That crowns an Asian mountain;

Fan

—

if

Lhy wings

the broad sea, where sultry Afric flings

His hot breath on the waters, by the shore

Of Araby the

blest; or in the roar

Of crashing Northern

Thy winged
Or

ice:

course to us

—oh, turn, and urge,

!

Leave the rough surge.

icy mountain-height, or city proud.

Or haughty temple,

or

With weakening

And come

dim wood, down-bowed

age,

to us, thou young and mighty sage!

II.

Thou who

invisibly dost ever stand

Near each high

orator,

and hand-in-hand

With golden-robed Apollon, touch the tongue
Of the rapt poet; on

whom men

have hung.

Strangely enchanted, when, in dark disguise,

Thou

hast descended from cloud-curtained skies,

up thy voice to teach bold men

And

lifted

Thy

world-arousing art!

Oh

The ocean was untracked,
Great ships upon

it!

thou, that

didst teach

Thou who

when

them send

dost extend,

In storm or calm, protection to the hopes

Of the

fair

merchant!

Of Mount Kullene

first

Thou, that on the slopes
mad'st sound the lyre

—with childish

And

the delicious harp,

And

magical beauty playing, in dark caves
40

lire

Marvellous tunes, unlike the ruder staves

That Pan had uttered while each wondering
;

Came

Nymph

out from tree and mountain, and the lymph

Of mountain-stream, to drink each echoing note

That over the entranced woods did

With

float,

fine clear tone.

Like silver trumpets on a

still

lake blown.

III.

Thou matchless

Artist!

Thou, whose wondrous

In ages past the earth's wide bounds did

With every

usefulness!

skill.

fill

Thou, who dost teach

Quick-witted thieves the miser's gold to reach,

And

rob him of his sleep for

Getting thee curses

many

Mischievous,

!

Young Rogue- God Hermes! always
All

Gods and men;

Going

of Ares,

now

Of young Apollon's

At dewy

strive

nightfall,

sprite

glad to cheat

now

to steal

to clog the wheel

may crawl
Thou, whom wrestlers

car, that it

Most slowly upwards!
Whether they

mad

—with mute and noiseless feet

in search of mischief;

The spear

a night,

upon the

level

call.

green

under the dim screen

Of ancient oaks, or at the sacred games.
In fiercer contest!

Thou,

In half -thought prayer,

whom

each then names

when the quick breath
41

is

drawn

For the

The

last struggle!

Thou, whom, on the lawn,

and ascribes to thee

victor praises,

His fresh-reaped honors!

Under thy

And

Let us ever be

care.

hear, oh hear, our solemn, earnest prayer.

1829.

No.

11.

TO FLORA.
I.

Hear, lovely Chloris, while we sing to thee!

Thou

restest

Near a

now beneath some shady

swift brook,

upon a mossy

tree.

root;

All other winds with deep delight are mute.

While Euros

A

frolics

with thy flowing hair,

thousand odors floating on the

And

rippling softly through the

air,

dewy green

Of the thick leaves, that murmuringly screen

Thy snowy

forehead.

The quivering

sunlight snows

In golden flakes.
Still glittering

Struggling through their mass,

Round

upon the

grass

thee a thousand flowers.

with the tears of Spring's light showers.
42

Offer the incense of their glad perfume

To

thee,

who makest them

With thy kind smile and

to

bud and bloom,

influence divine.

Thine arms around young Zephuros entwine.

And
On

With

roses garlanded,

his white shoulder rests

thy lovely head;

his 'round thee.

Thy

deep eyes gaze

in his.

Radiant with mute, unutterable

And, happy

bliss,

there,

Oh, lovely, young, enamored

Your rosy

lips oft

meet

in

pair,

many a

long,

warm

kiss

II.

Now

the young Spring rejoices, and

In her

new

glad.

robes of starry blossoms clad;

The happy earth
That

is

smiles like an innocent bride.

sitteth, blushing,

by her husband's

side;

The

bird her nest with earnest patience weaves.

And

sings, delighted,

From

their high

The busy

hidden in the leaves;

homes

in

cavernous old

trees,

legions of industrious bees

Drink nectar at each flower's enamelled brim.
Breathing in murmured music their glad hymn;

The Nereids come from

their deep ocean-caves.

Deserting for a time the saddened waves;

The Druads from the dusky

solitudes,

43

—
Of venerable and majestic woods;

The Naiads from deep beech-embowered

lakes;

The Oreads from where hoarse Thunder shakes
The

iron mountains;

And

—wandering through cool glades,

blushing lawns,

when

first

the darkness fades,

Before the crimsoning morn,

And

ere the

young Day's sapphire

In glad haste

tints are gone,

all,

Their lovers to en wreathe withal.

Gather the fresh-blown

flowers,

gemmed

with the tears of

Dawn.
III.

Come, gentle Queen! we

spill

to thee no blood;

Thine altar stands where the gray, ancient wood,

Now green

with leaves, and fresh with April rains,

In stately circle sweeping round, contains.

Embowered

A

like

a hill-environed

dell,

quiet lawn, whose undulations swell

Green as the sea-waves.

Whose

On

birds

and bees

Thine altar stands,

Where

We

rose with

—round whose grassy

its

of

lily

Breathe on the
all

air

lip

crystal waters sip

shrubs and flowering vines.

and carnation twines.

burn to thee no incense.

Than

spring,

waters, sparkling downward, lightly ring

the small pebbles

The

Near a bubbling

more

These fresh blooms.

exquisite perfumes,

that press the overladen wind
44

That seaward

No

floats

from Araby to Ind.

priests are here prepared for sacrifice,

But

fair

young

girls,

With white

And by

with mischievous, bright eyes,

flowers garlanded.

their young, delighted lovers led.

With frequent

kisses.

And fond and

innocent caresses,

To honor

thee, the victim

and the

priest instead.

1845.

No.

12.

TO HUPNOS.
I.

Kind Comforter

of all the

weary Gods,

With drooping eyelids, head that ever nods!

Thou

silent soother, that

with

all

Of empty dreams, dim tenants

Vague

thy train

of the brain.

as the wind, dost sleep in thy dark cave.

At whose mouth

sluggishly white poppies wave.

In the light airs that saunter

by thy bed,

Thine only throne, with darkness tenanted.

And

curtains black as are the eyes of Night!

Thou, who dost

Deep

sleep,

in lone forests,

when wanes the

reluctant light.

where gray Evening hides.

Trembling at sight of the sun; and Shadow glides
45

—
Through

Thou

silent tree-tops: or,

if,

half -a wake,

dozest on the margin of some lake.

Land-locked, and

still

as the mute, cloudless sky;

While thy quaint Dreams, wayward and wanton,

With mischievous pranks,

fantastic tricks,

mad

fly.

mirth.

About the sluggard. Earth:
Oh, come, and hear the

hymn

that

we

are chanting,

Here, where the shivered starlight through thick leaves
slanting!

II.

Thou

lover of the banks of idle streams.

Shadowed by broad

From moon and

When

its

great

old oaks, with gleams scattered

stars

upon them;

—

of the ocean.

bosom throbs with no emotion.

But the round moon hangs out her lamp, to pour

A

sparkling glory on

Thou, that

reclinest

its level floor!

on the moist, warm sands.

While winds come dancing from far southern lands,

With dreams upon

And

their backs,

drip with odors; or

Of cloud, that,

like

a

and wings that reek

upon a peak

hill

of chrysolite.

Leans on the western sky, when the bland night

Comes

late in

summer; or beneath the

sea.

Scarce conscious of the dim monotony

Of the great waves, here murmuring

like

the wings

Of swarming dreams, while the huge ocean swings
46

is

His bulk above thy

upon

(As, chained

A

heavy head

listless,

his bed,

conquered Titan, with unconscious motion,

Even

so respiring swings the

mute and

sleeping ocean.)

III.

Thou who

dost bless sad mourners with thy touch,

And make

sharp Agony relax his clutch

Upon

the bleeding fibres of the heart,

Pale Disappointment no more

And Sorrow dry
Her

life

apart,

her tears, and cease to weep

away, gaining new cheer in sleep

Thou who
When,

mope

dost bless the birds, at evening gray.

summer

tired of singing all the

day.

They, longing, watch to see the evening

—on the sky's blue slope!

Thy

herald,

Thy

flocks of flitting dreams, dear

All noise

So

is

most abhorred?

cool, so fresh,

Come

Where

God, by

where nought the silence

Make

tired eyes!

Ah! thou hast come!

are

whom

to this gloom,

Except the murmur of the dreaming

Touch our

star,

stirs.

firs!

the dusk shades more dense!

We feel

thine influence.

Forget our hjmin, and sink in sleep away;

And

so,

Climbs high

Here

till

new-born

in heaven,

we'll recline,

Day

with fire-steeds swiftly leaping.

beneath the vine-leaves calmly sleeping.
1830.
47

LATONA.
There was a sudden

stir,

Ages ago, on the ^gean Sea.

With a loud

cry, as of great agony.

The blue deep

parted, and the angry roar

Of a great earthquake echoed round the shore;

The

tortured waters, trembling, stood aghast;

Delos emerged, and anchored firm and fast

Among

the Cyclades, lay calm and

still.

In one brief moment, valley, plain and

Were carpeted with
Sprung to

verdure, and great trees

full stature,

shaking in the breeze

Their limbs and leaves; and

Longed

hill

for the sunshine

fruits,

and buds, and flowers

and the summer showers.

Pursued by Here, poor Latona had
Till

then been wandering,

Round the

terrified

and sad.

great earth, and through the weltering seas.

Praying for mercy on long-bended knees,

But

still

denied.

Above the shaggy

Many
hills,

a weary day.
where, groaning, lay

48

Enceladus and Typhon, she had roamed,

And

over volcanoes where lava foamed;

And sometimes
Where the

in

dark forests she had hid,

lithe serpent

through the long grass

Over gray weeds and tiger-trampled

Where the grim

And

slid,

flowers;

couched in tangled bowers,

lion

the fierce panther, proud of his dappled skin.

woods with

Startled the

moaning

his deep,

din.

All things were there to terrify the soul:

The hedgehog that
Gray

eagles,

across her path did

roll,

fanged like pards, old vultures bald.

Fierce hawks,

and

restless owls,

whose hoot appalled;

Red

scorpions, lurking

And

here and there great piles of rotting bones

Of the

first

under mossy stones,

men who won renown

in wars;

Brass heads of arrows, javelins, scimetars,

Old crescent

shield,

Large yellow

Too

old

skulls,

and dry

for

and edgeless

battle-axe;

with wide and gaping cracks.

worms

to harbor

in,

Only the useless spider there did spin
His treacherous web.

Then would she

stop,

Her weary head among dead
That she might
Pulseless,

till

die,

thou,

and lay

leaves

and pray

—and fainting thus remain.
Zeus! wouldst

49

rise,

and rain

Thy
Of

light

life

Her

upon her

Then the

eyelids.

tide

once more through her cold heart would

soul

grow

and once more

strong,

her fate, and

many a

With

all

Glow

in her heart; then,

With the bright

O

terrors of

fit

glide,

to cope

cheerful hope

King Zeus! wouldst thou

thy frowning brow,

Scare every hateful creature far away.

Then would she

And through

And

rise, fairer

than rosy Day,

the tiger-peopled solitudes,

odorous brakes, and panther-guarded woods

Journey, until she reached the curving edge

Of the blue sea; and there, on some high ledge

Of porphyritic rock,

sit long,

and look

Into thine eye, nor fear that from some nook

The hideous shapes that haunted her would meet
Her

startled eyes.

One day she

On

cooled her feet

a long, narrow beach.

Had marked,

The encroaching brine

as with an endless serpent-spine,

The hard, smooth sand with a long

line of shells,

Like those the Nereids gather, in deep

Of the

The

such they

feet of cross old Nereus,

That

To

sea, for Thetis:

this propitiates

pile

cells

around

having found

him; such they bring

slippery Proteus as an offering.

When they would have him tell their destiny,
And what young God their first love is to be.
50

And

there Latona paced along the sands,

Dreaming

And

of journeys into

unknown

lands,

persecutions to be suffered yet:

And when some wave,
Her rosy
Didst

feet,

first

thy

less

shy than others, wet

she tingled as
lips press

when Thou

on her blushing brow.

Still

she paced on over the firm, cool sand,

And

the heaped shells, and, once or twice, would stand

And

let

her long, bright, golden tresses float

Over the waters.
Of the

Lo! the threatening note

fierce, hissing

Dragon

Startled, she shivers with

And,

mad

strikes her ear!

a horrid

fear.

with terror and insane despair.

Flees to the sea,

and seeks destruction

But thy great Brother met her

as she

there.

fell

Into the waves, and gave her power to dwell

Beneath the waters,

like

a Naiad, born

Within the sound of Triton's mellow

That

stills

the waves.

shell.

Then wandered she

forlorn

Through many wonders:

—coral-raftered caves.

Sunk

of

far

below the roar

clamorous waves;

Sea-flowers like masses of soft golden hair

Or misty

silk;

great shells, and fleshless spine

Of old Behemoth;

Among

flasks of

hoarded wine.

the timbers of old, shattered ships;

Goblets of gold, that had not touched the

Of

men a thousand

years.

51

lips

At length she
Despairing, down, to

On

weep her

floor, alone;

the sea's

Thy mighty

life

lay,

away

—and then

was

it

voice, the Deities that awes.

Lifted to light under fair Grecian skies

That lovely Cycladean Paradise,

And

placed Latona there,

With parted

And

all

lips,

when

fast asleep.

and respiration deep.

When,

unconscious.

She lay beneath a

tall,

refreshed, she woke.

wide-branching oak,

Majestic, king-like,

—from whose depths peeped out

All those shy birds

whose instinct

And

fear

mankind.

Did earnestly

Busy

Doves, with

is

to doubt

soft,

patient eyes,

artistic nests devise,

as bees under the sheltering leaves;

Thrushes that love to house beneath mossed eaves;
Merles, brought from the far Azores, with their clear.

Mellow, and fluty note;

To

—the chaffinch, dear

the rude Thuringian, for

The mountain-finch, from
With

its

brown

eyes,

his

own

Uttering

Aught

its

isles;

trills;

and neck
to

hills.

of velvet-black;
flit

back

—the small gold-crested wren,

hurried

hostile

mazy

Shetland's rugged

The sweet canary, yearning

To

its

trill

of terror,

came anear

its

when

elegant nest.

—the skylark, with his breast

And

pale-brown eggs;

Wet

with the morning dew,

who never
52

sings

Upon
High

the ground, but whose fine music rings
in the heavens;

—the golden

That mimics the rude

From braying

flourishes

oriole,

which

roll

trumpets, with his flute-like notes;

Affectionate redstarts, who, with mellow throats.
First hail the

dawn;

—song-throstles, bold and fond

FVom Smyrna and from
That sing

A

ancient Trebizond,

in lofty tree-tops, at

still

noon,

musical and melancholy tune;

The happy
Low,

soft,

bullfinch, with his

and sweet,

modest song,

—rose-ouzels, and a throng

Of mountain linnets from the Orkney

And

Isles,

warbling ortolons, from where the smiles

Of the

The

warm sun

ripen the grapes of France;

frisking white-throat, with his antic dance,

That

sings at sultry

summer-noon, and chases

The small aphides through the tangled mazes
Of rose and honeysuckle;

—black-caps, nesting

In the white thorn; who, while the world

At midnight, wake with

full,

is

resting.

sweet melodies.

Wild, deep and loud, the sleep-enchanted bees;

Blue-throated robins, bred near northern seas;

And
And,

pied fly-catchers, nesting in old trees;
last of all, the peerless nightingale.

Cicadas sang, hid in the velvet grass;

Bees

all

around did their rich store amass,

Or clung together on a swinging bough,
53

—
In tangled swarms;

Hung

—above her pale,

nests of callow songsters;

That she could touch

A small,
When

it,

lay,

fair

brow

and so nigh

with lively eye,

gray lizard; such do notice give

serpents glide; and in

Even by the

all

lands they live.

good-will of the rudest hind.

Close to her feet an antelope reclined.
Graceful, large-eyed, white as the stainless fleece

Of snow upon the topmost Pyrenees,

And cropped
From

No

the young buds of the sheltering trees
In the deep, sombre woods

the drooping limbs.

voice stirred; nor in these sweet solitudes

Did aught disturb the

birds, except the

hymn

Sung by the fountain, from whose grassy brim
Its liquid light, in thin, clear, sparkling jets.

Rained ever on the thirsty

The hum

of leaves that

violets;

whispered overhead,

The brook that sang along

its

pebbly bed,

The

water-fall deep in the forest hid.

And

the slight

murmur

up the

of the waves, that slid

firm, unyielding sand,

As

softly

As

gentle children, clasping

hand and hand.

In the sick chamber of a mother grieve.

And

glide

on

tiptoe.

Here,

O

Zeus, one eve.

When thou didst shine high in the darkling west,
And bathe Night's glossy hair and ebon breast,
64

And

gentle eyes with brightness,

—while the Earth

Sent up soft mists to thee, thy maid gave birth

To

bright Apollo, and his sister

The

ivory-footed Huntress;

Tall-statured, beautiful, as

On

fair,

—such a

pair,

now they

sit

golden thrones, where, on Olympus met.

The

austere Senate of the immortal

Obeys and trembles

And when

in the East,

far-off,

Shot through her

Latona heard.

the well-remembered hiss

Of the great dragon.

And

the Thunderer nods.

the radiant wings of morning stirred

The darkness
Faint and

if

Gods

Bitter agonies

soul,

and she had swiftly

fled,

tried again old Ocean's friendly bed.

Had not

Apollo, young, sun-bright Apollo,

Restrained her from the dark and perilous hollow.

And

asked what meant the noise.
"It is," she said,

"The monster Python, a

great dragon, bred

After the Deluge, in the stagnant

And

mud.

thirsting for thy mother's innocent blood.

Sent by great Here, Heaven's vindictive Queen,

To

slay us all."

Upon
Lay ready

And heavy

the

to the

hand a nervous bow

dewy green

arrows, eagle-winged, which thou,

Oh, Zeus! hadst placed within Apollo's reach.
55

—
These grasping, the young God stood
Of ch-cHng

trees,

in the

breach

with eye that fiercely glanced,

Nostril expanded, lip pressed, foot advanced.

And arrow

at the string; when, lo! the coil

Of the great dragon came, with sinuous

And

vast gyrations, crushing

down

the branches.

With

noise as

Huge

bones; and then Apollo drew the

when a hungry

toil.

tiger cranches

bow

Full at the eye, nor ended with one blow;

Dart after dart sped from the twanging

string,

All at the eye: until, a lifeless thing.

The dragon

lay.

Thus the young Sun-God slew

The

scaly monster;

and then dragged and threw,

(So strong he was), the carcass in the sea.

Where the

great sharks feasted voraciously,

Lashing the water into bloody foam
In their fierce fights.

Latona thence could roam.

With her brave children and defenders
In earth,

air, sea,

or heaven, free of fear;

Here forgave, and Zeus the twins did

To guide

near,

set,

the sun and moon, as they do yet.
1830.

56

TO THE PLANET JUPITER.
Thou

art a radiant

and imperial

beams

Planet! whose silver crest

Upon

star,

bright, afar

the edge of yonder eastern

hill,

That, nightlike, seems a third of heaven to

Thou

art

most worthy

of a poet's song,

One

like

And

yet thou smilest as

Weak

as

Among
The

a king above the

I

am,

my lyre

if

in the

7 might sing.

thrill

now thou

I

curled.

hast arisen.
glisten:

ancients held to be a king

the Gods.

Of inspiration,

the world.

upon the sky has

East thy burning eye doth

Thou whom the

Among

throng;

unused to ring

Flushing the clouds; and

And

common

the thousand harps that

sun's last breath

fill.

As though thou wast a spring

would soar and drink

While yet thou lingerest on the mountain's brink.-

Who

bade men say that thou, oh

Wast

To

sit

to the

moon a

servitor,

and watch her eye

silver Peer!

anear

for messages

Like to the other silver-winged bees.

That swarm around

her,

when she

sits

Out on the moon! She bringeth storm
57

her throne?
alone,

——
At new and

full,

and every other time;

She turns men's brains, making them madly rhyme,

And

rave,

And

shall she

and sigh away
be

of

their

weary

young adorers

And thou have none?

—Nay, one

life;

rife.

will sing to

thee

In rudest strains, bending the humble knee.

Lo! on the edge of the great Western Plain,

The

Star of Love doth lingering remain.

She of the ocean-foam, watching thy look.

As one that gazes on an antique book.
Earnestly reading, in the deep, dead night.
Filching from

And now

Time

Ah! sweet delay!

his hours.

she sinks, pursuing the swift day.

Content with thy one glance of answering love:

Where Venus

Now

as thou

worships, can

swimmest higher

Marking the water with a

On wave and
Thy

line of light,

upon the

With a sweet magic and
still

growth

Falls

when thy

through the

Tinging

it

heart.

resistless art.

of a

The mother, watching by her
Blesses thee,

into sight,

ripple quietly aslant,

influences steal

Like the

heedless prove?

I

young vigorous
sleeping child.

light, serene

lattice

plant.

and mild.

on her babe's pale

with a sweet benignant grace.

Like the white shadow of an angel's wing.
58

face.

The

man

sick

And wasted

day,

a lightless flower away,

like

Blesses thee, too, oh

Upon

many a

that has lain for

JOVE! when thou

dost shine

his face with influence divine,

Soothing his thin, blue eyelids to calm sleep.

The
In

its

vexed nurse's arms,

and then

Its eyes,

And

murmuring

child its peevish

it

keep

thou dost glad

till

sleeps.

will

The

thin

and sad

patient student, closes his worn books

A space

or so, to gain from thy kind looks

Refreshment:

Prisoners in dungeons pent

Climb to the grates, and there with head upbent

Gaze long at thee; the timid deer awake,

And by thy

ramble through

light

fell

and brake,

Whistling their joy to thee, the speckled trout

From under
Turns

And

his

dark rock comes shooting out,

his quick

eye to thee, loves thy soft

sleeps within

it;

the gray water-plant

Looks up to thee beseechingly,

And thou

dost feed

Even the

tortoise crawls

it

aslant.

there beneath the wave.
his

damp

dewy

grass,

from

And

feeds wherever, on the

Thy

light has lingered: nay,

To

light.

cave.

thy mild rays pass

water-depths, and the small coral-fly

Works

cheerfully

when

Thou touchest not
Even the sturdy

flattered

by thine

eye.

the rudest heart in vain;

sailor

and hard swain
59

Are grateful when, after a storm, thine eye

Opens amid torn

The

and calms the sky.

clouds,

lover praises thee, to thy sweet light

Likens his love, so tender and more bright.

And

Her radiant

mock

mistress thou dost kindly

tells his

Thou

eyes.

dost the heart unlock.

With care and woe long dark and

comfortless.

So that the wretched thy sweet soothing

And

cease to long for quiet in the grave.

The

lunatic, that to the

bless,

Sleeps in thy light, and

The miser pauses

When

far

silver

sleeps,

arrows pierce the
all

as death,

By

was

—ah

!

bring

delight; before one

disappointment.

But not with
I toiled

care;

Then

come and

me back

go.

again

blessed me,

when

hope was veiled

my

cheek was paled,

—for late at night and long

and moiled to gain myself among

Old tomes some knowledge; as indeed
I

air,

and the mountains crowned with snow.

The bold and happy heart that
Life

thy glances,

the dark woods, where

the great Sea, whose pulses
still

flash

loveliness entrances.

below thee,

The wind

Are

again himself;

through the steel-barred windows

Ah! while thy

And

is

rave.

as he counts his pelf.

And even him thy
And,

moon doth

I did.

studied much, and things the wise had hid

In their quaint books

I

learned;

60

and then

I

thought

Myself a poet, and

I

fondly wrought

My boyish feelings into verse, and rained
The

loose leaves

Some

on the wind, and so

and a

praise,

slight

gained

name.

And then
Ah, me! how

I

like reality it

dreamed,

I

seemed!

Of loving and being loved, of eyes that shone,
Bright as the Southern Cross, for

But

I

awoke, the vision

And round me
With

On

frost

and

the sharp

Me back to
Indeed a

sleet, since

flints:

my poor feet

—Ah, Jove! couldst thou but lead
for a time,

it

were

didst thus their destiny control,

may

None

feel for

Than

I.

sink.

thy

Thou

my

in

JOVE,

Oh,

fair star

soul

I

am

full sure.

a love more pure,

hast been, everywhere, to

of inspiration.

Sleepless, could I

In East or West.

not

I

first

me

should be

behold thine orb.

Then doth

my heart absorb,

Like other withering flowers, thy light and

For that neglect which cutteth

Thou

bled

gift.

light

A source

away,

when

worship thee, hoping that

Thy

alone;

closed a long, cold winter day.

boyhood

THOU, who
I

fled

me

chill'st

like

life.

a knife,

not with; unless the azure lake
61

Of heaven
Of me, as

is

Planet! thou wouldst

clouded.

make

of thine ancient worshippers,

A poet; but,

alas!

whatever

My tongue and pen,

stirs

both are but faint and weak.

Apollo hath not, in some gracious freak,
Inspired

me

Or touched

with the spirit of his

my soul

with his ethereal

So that whatever humble song

To

thee

is

but a meagre

All I can give

My all.
I

small.

fire.

I sing.

offering.

Thou

wilt not scorn

give no golden sheaves of corn;

burn to thee no rich and odorous gums;

I offer
I

I

is

lyre,

up

to thee no hecatombs;

build no altars:

Such as

it is,

'tis

receive

a heart alone;
it! 'tis

thine own.
1833.

62

LINES WRITTEN ON THE

ROCKY

MOUNTAINS.
The deep transparent sky

many thousand

Of

Unnumbered

glittering lights,

stars that calmly rule

The dark dominions

The

mild, sad

Out

And

of the

all

is full

of the night;

moon has upward

gray and boundless plain;

around the white snows

Where
While ages

frost
roll

risen.

and

and

ice

glisten.

silence reign.

away, and they unchanged remain.

These mountains, piercing the blue sky,

With

their eternal cones of ice;

These torrents, dashing from on high,
O'er rock and crag and precipice,

Change

not, but

still

remain as ever,

Unwasting, deathless and sublime.

And

will

Or
Or

stars these hoary

rolls

It is

remain, while lightnings quiver.

summits climb,

the thunder-chariot of eternal Time.

not so with

And

all.

I

change

waste as with a living death,

Like one that has become a strange

Unwelcome

guest,

and lingereth
63

Among

the memories of the past,

Where he

is

a forgotten name.

For time hath mighty power to blast

The

hopes, the feehngs, and the fame.

To make the passions swell,

The

And

cools

Such was

And
And

wind whistles

swift

I

And
Still

and

loud.

brow;

once, as free, as proud.

I

how

altered

now!

gaze upon the plain.

These mountains,

The scenes

shrill

my fever-heated

yet, alas!

while

or their wild fierceness tame.

of

this eternal sky.

boyhood come again.

pass before the vacant eye.

wearing something of the shape

I

knew them

by.

Yet why lament? For what are wrong,
False friends, cold hearts, sharp words, deceit.

And

life

already spun too long,

To one who walks with
The

bleeding feet

world's rough paths?

All will but

Death sweeter, when he comes at
Although the outraged heart
Its

And

agony

of pain

patience makes

it

is

may

make

last.

ache.

past.

firm, while life

64

is

ebbing

fast.

Perhaps,

when

I

have passed away,

Like the sad echo of a dream.

There

A

may

be some one found to say

word that

That

I

will like

—one genuine

would have

One kindly and
Grant

sorrow seem.

me

tear,

regretful thought.

but that; and even here.

In this lone, strange, unpeopled spot.

To

breathe

away

this life of pain I

murmur

not.

1832.

65

—

ODE.

When shall the nations all be free,
And Force no longer reign;
None bend

to brutal

None hug

No

Power the knee,

the gilded chain?

longer rule the ancient Wrong,

The Weak be trampled by the Strong?

How

long, dear

The people

Do

God

in heaven!

how

long,

wail in vain?

not th' Archangels on their thrones,

Turn piteous

looks to thee.

When round them

thickly

swarm the groans

Of those that would be free?
Of those that know they have the right

To Freedom, though crushed down by Might,
As

all

the world hath to the light

And

air

which Thou mad'st free?

The ancient Empires staggering
Along Time's mighty

Whose

drift

tide.

waters, running broad and swift.

Eternity divide:

66

How many
Over

The

years shall pass, before

their bones the sea shall roar,

salt

sand

The

stars

What

drift,

mock

fallen Pride?

then the great Republic's fate?

To founder

And

the fresh rains pour,

sink with

far

all

from land.

her glorious freight,

Smitten by God's right hand?

Or

shall she

still

her helm obey

In calm or storm, by night or day,

No

sail rent,

no spar cut away,

Exultant, proud and grand?

The

issues are with

God.

To

do,

Of right belongs to us:

May we

be ever just and

For nations

true.

flourish thus!

JUSTICE is mightier than ships;
RIGHT, than the cannon's brazen
And TRUTH,
Makes

lips;

averting dark eclipse.

fortunes prosperous.

July

67

4, 1853.

SPRING.

0, thou delicious Spring!

Nursed

in the lap of thin

and subtle showers,

Raining from clouds exhaled from dews that cling

To odorous beds

and fragrant

of rare

And honeysuckle

flowers,

bowers.

That over grassy walks

their tendrils fling:

Come, gentle Spring!

Thou

lover of soft winds!

That wander from the

Whose foam
Her dewy

hair,

Makes
Even

invisible

the clouds are,

upper sea

when young May unbinds

and with sweet sympathy

crisp leaves

dance with

glee.

in the teeth of that old sober hind.

Winter unkind.

Come

to us! for thou art

Like the pure love of children, gentle Spring,
Filling with delicate pleasure the lone heart;

Or

like

a modest virgin's welcoming;

And thou

dost bring

Fair skies, soft breezes, bees upon the wing.

Low murmuring.

68

Red Autumn, from the South,
Contends with thee.

What

are his purple-stained and rosy mouth.

And nut-brown
And

Thy

What beauty can he show?

cheeks, to thy soft feet of snow,

exquisite fresh glow.

timid flowers, in their sweet virgin growth

And modest youth?

Hale Summer follows thee.

But not with beauty

delicate as thine;

All things that live rejoice

thy face to

But when he comes, they pant
For arctic

ice,

for heat,

see;

and pine

and wine

Thick-frozen, sipped under a shady tree,

With dreams

Come,

Wake

upon our

hills,

the chilled brooks, and send them

To make

And when

down

the valleys smile with sparkling

their side,

rills;

the stars into their places glide.

And Dian
I,

sit

of thee.

sits in pride,

too, will breathe thine influence that thrills

The grassy

hills.

69

—not long

Alas! sweet Spring!
"Wilt

thou remain, lament thee as we may;

For as rude Summer waxes stout and strong,

Thou

wilt

grow thin and

As dreams

Thou

wilt

flit,

Worn

I,

in song.

who

sing, shall die.

thin and pale, perhaps,

And,

fainting,

Bid unto

A
To

scared at day;

no more to us or earth belong.

Except

So

this

with a

I

soft,

poor body that

long good-by,

enjoy,

and fade away

pale,

by

care and sorrow;

unconscious sigh,
I

borrow,

—tomorrow

hope, eternal Spring on high.

Beyond the sky.
1829.

70

NOON
The sun

FE.

shines dull in the mist amid,

That, like a

And though

grief, is

shading him;

the mountains be not hid.

Their distant blue

Yet marking with

The

SANTA

IN

faint

is

and dim,
deep

their outline

paler blue that bends above.

The winds have moaned themselves

And

scarcely

now

their soft wings

to sleep,

move,

With an unquiet, slumberous motion.

Watched by the
That wanderer

Whose stay

mute,

flitting

Noon,

Earth and Ocean,

of

men

all

desire,

but none obtain the boon.

hour for saddened thought,

It is the

When

A

pale,

things have a softened tone,

all

dream-like indistinctness, fraught

With

all

that makes

man

Perhaps the hour and time

That

Make

in the sad

feel alone.
it is.

and dreaming heart

gray Time's ancient images

Into a
Till all

new

that

distinctness start;

I

have

lost or left,

Or loved or worshipped

Comes up
With

all

like

in

an unwelcome

my youth,
gift.

the sad and stern reality of truth.

71

—— —

The troubled image

of the Past,

Its buried years, before

And

me

rise;

gazing in the distant vast.

Dim

shapes

I see,

Like those that

But

Many

I

altered, as

that near

with saddened eyes.

have known before.
I,

my

too,

have changed:

heart

Some long ago from me
Ah! yes!

I

know

I

wore.

estranged.

that sad fair face,

That matchless form, that witchery,

Thy
I

step of

No
if

Memory's

sister,

dim

obscurity.

weaves

golden web of hope for me.
she smile, she

With

all

She points

And,

We

thy winning grace,

see thee, loved one! in the

Fair Fancy,

Or,

air,

still

deceives

a wanton's mockery;

me

to a fireless hearth.

—that most sharp and bitter

feel

upon the lonely

sting,

earth,

Cold looks and colder welcoming:
Friends washed

off

by

life's

ebbing

tide.

Like sands along the shifting coasts,

The

soul's first love another's bride;

And

other melancholy thoughts that haunt like ghosts.

72

Well,

have chosen

I

And

I will

And do

walk

it

my own

rough way,

manfully;

the best that mortal may.

Wherever duty leadeth me.

No

heart that

Can

What

help but love, can help but hate;

malice knows will sure be told,

Libels on

But

not wholly cold,

is

all

distinction wait:

as the misty

Doth not

mountain-mane

for ever

shade

its

blue.

So vanishes each slander-stain

From

all

who

earnestly

and

well their

duty do.
1832.

73

*ARIEL.

I.

I

Methought

had a dream:

And bade me
Lighter

follow him; and

my body seemed

Or than the

Above the

invisible

clouds.

With quick

I

arose:

than subtle flame,

wind that always blows

So upward

I

did aim,

as the sky-lark

flight,

Led by the Splendor

Whose snowy

Ariel came,

sunward

goes,-

of Ariel's wing.

light before fled, glittering.

II.

So, floating

upward through the roseate

And through

We

air,

the wide interstices of cloud.

climbed the

mist-hills,

till

we

halted,

where

The frowning peaks beneath the azure glowed;
Then gazed

I all

But crimson

And dimmed
Till

around;

light

—no sun blazed there.

through the pure ether flowed.

the moon's eye and the stars* white cones,

they were scarce seen on their golden thrones.

*This beautiful

poem

is

said to

have been written

while the author's horse was feeding by his side.

74

in the prairie

III.

Awhile we trod along the quivering peaks

Of foaming cloud; over entangled
Of purple

light;

And saw

rifts

through crimson-misted breaks;

blue lightning crouching in white drifts,

Restless and quivering, while the broad, deep lakes

Of vapor tremble as he

Waked by
That

stirs

and

shifts.

the diapason of the thunder,

swells

upon the wild wind rushing under.

IV.

And moored

within a labyrinthine bay

Girded by massive foam-cliffs, rough, storm-worn,

On a

A

flat

shore of leaden vapor, lay

boat carved out of orange mist, which morn

Had hardened
Deep

in

a

We stepped
Our

thirsty

into crystal,

rift in

day,

a vast glacier torn

on board,
sail,

many a

:

—we loosed her from the bank.

spread wide, the breezes drank.

V.

And

swiftly then our

While

Down

I sat

looking

winged bark flew on.

downward from the prow;

broad, shade-margined rivers, dark and dun.

Over smooth

lakes, sea-green, with golden glow.

75

—
Flecked with broad black spots, here and there, upon
Then* mirrored surface:

Like a

fleet

—now we

float

below

shadow, over the vext breast

Of boundless, billowy oceans of white mist.

VI.

Then rushed we

into chasms, deep, wide

By huge, bleak, stormy mountains, of
And rolling masses of the thunder-rack;

and black,
the foam

Dark, quivering precipices of deep gloom.
Aeries of brooding lightning;

In narrow

Of the

mad

And on

inlets,

—and did tack

through which roared the boom

wind; wherein did Thunder dream.

the far blue waves his lightnings gleam.

VII.

And then we

issued to the open vast

Of cloudless
Its silver

air

above; and while the

shade upon

my forehead

sail

cast,-^

Like lightning or swift thought, before the gale
Fled our bright barque.
Currents of astral

Strange wonders there

light, cold, thin

and

we

pale.

Strange, voiceless birds that never sink to earth,

And

troops of

fairies,

dancing in
76

mad

mirth.

passed,

VIII.

Then we descended,
Above the peak
Ariel furled the

Upon

till

float

one lone mountain; and

of

sail,

our barque did

and moored our boat

the margin of a narrow strand

Of undulating mist, that from remote

And

An

many

dangerous seas had come, o'er

a land,-

amaranthine effluence of ocean.

Changing forever with eternal motion.

IX.

Then, bending from the helm, Ariel gazed

With keen eyes downward through the mighty vast

And waved

his

hand.

The

That on the mountain's

piles of

lofty

mist upraised.

crown were massed;

And, gazing earthward, eager and amazed.
While either way the rent clouds slowly passed,
I

saw a mighty

The

palace, reared

grey, scarred

summit

upon

of that towering cone.

X.

Columns

of gold, with

Ruby and
With leaves

jasper,

emerald inwrought,

and

infoliate

of silver, intricate as thought;

Statues of gold, intercolumniate;

77

— —
Great

altars, fed

With

toil

with costly odours, bought

and blood; and round the rude doors wait

Large hosts of slaves, bending the patient knee,

As though they

lingered there

some King to

see.

XL
"Here," said Ariel, "liveth Tyranny,
Remorseless reveller in war and blood;

And

these that

humbly bend the supple knee,

Within whose inmost
Hatred, despair,

heart-cells ever

chill fear

brood

and misery.

Peopling with terrors the sad solitude,

These are

And

his slaves.

costly

homage

They bow

there, night

and day,

to his altars pay."

XIL

"And now,

behold! forth from his broad gates ride

His kindred fiends, the tools of his

Your

fierce ire.

glorious Republic to divide.

Friend against friend, the son against the

And

near their graves

who

for

your freedom died,

Slay with the sword and devastate with

And

I

sire.

fire:

have brought thee here, that thou mayest

Thy countrymen

to shun that purple Hell."

78

tell

XIII.

Then, with a roar

The brazen

And trembled
The

distant

like

gates,
like

thunder, open flew

and

all

the mountain quivered,

a child; and far

hills,

off,

through

against the grey rocks shivered,

That awful sound; and a wild voice that grew

A

terror to

me, surging up, delivered.

In tones that like a brazen trumpet roared,

The order

for the

march:

— Forth came the horde!
XIV.

First

came Ambition, with

And

tiger-spring,

his discous eye.

and hot and eager speed.

Flushed cheek, imperious glance, demeanour high;—

He

in the portal striding his black steed,

Stained fetlock-deep with red blood not yet dry,

And

Down

flecked with foam, did the wild cohort lead

the rough mountain, heedless of the crowd

Of slaves that round the altar-steps yet bowed.

XV.
Next came red Rashness, with

his restless step.

In whose large eyes glowed the fierce

In his broad chest.

From

his

Large gouts

fire

that boiled

of blood did drip

drawn sword; the trembling slaves
79

recoiled:

—
Scorn and

fierce passion curled his

writhing

lip;

His dress was torn with furious haste, and soiled;
So, springing

The

reins,

on

his reeking steed,

and downward

he shook

his swift journey took.

XVI.

Then came dark Disappointment, with the foam
Of rage upon his

lips,

sad step and slow,

Stem, wrinkled brow, clenched

teeth,

and heavy gloom.

Like a shadow on his eyes, in these a glow
Like that of baleful stars within a tomb;

His tangled locks

left in

the wind to blow;

And

so did he forth from the palace stride.

And

stalk

away down the

steep mountain-side.

XVIL

Next followed Envy, with deep-sunken

eye.

He beat his breast
with many a bitter sigh;

Glaring upon his mates.

And gnashed
For
Of

his teeth,

in his heart,

fiery scorpions

deep in

its core,

gnawed, that never

Writhing and stinging ever;

Mounted upon a

And down

a nest
die,

—on he pressed,

pale and hound-eyed steed.

the mountain, snarling, did proceed.

80

XVIII.

And then

old Avarice, tottering out, appeared.

With wrinkled

And

front

and gray and matted

small and bleared:

elfish eyes, blue-circled,

He

slowly walked, with cautious, prying

Working

his lips

under

hair,

air.

his filthy beard,

Peering upon the ground with searching eye,

Clutching a purse with yellow, wasted hand,

And

so he followed the descending band.

XIX.
Then came Corruption, with

his serpent-tongue.

Quick, hurried gate, and eye astute, yet bold;

And

while,

amid the crouching,

Of suppliant slaves, he did

He

base,

bowed throng

his quick

way

hold,

loudly hurried Avarice along,

Who

crawled before him with his bag of gold;

Bestriding then his rich-apparelled steed.

He

followed swiftly where his mates did lead.

XX.
Next, dark Fanaticism, his haggard face

down the

Flushing with holy anger,

track

Went, loud bewailing that the good old days
Of

fire

and faggot had not yet come back,
81

;

When

—

Error was a crime, and to the ways

Of Truth men were persuaded by the rack;

On

either side, a little in advance,

Bigotry rode, and harsh Intolerance.

XXI.

Hypocrisy came next, prim, starched and

With folded hands and upturned pious

staid,

eyes.

As though God's law he punctually obeyed
His sordid greed seeks

He

lusts for every ripe,

Then wrings
'Owner

of

its

lies;

voluptuous maid,

his hands,

men! stand

base end by

and prays, and loudly

off, afar,

while

cries,

I,

'Holier than thou art, piously pass by!"

XXII.

And

next came Treason, with his blood-stained hand.

Deep, black,

fierce eye,

While even as he passed

The

and bold, unquailing

his

hot breath fanned

grovelling slaves into rebellion there:

His armour clashed, and his broad battle-brand

Did

And

in the purple sheen like lightning glare;

so his fiery courser he bestrode,

The echo

of

whose hoofs roared down the road.
82

air;

— —
XXIII.
Last came King Anarchy.

With red

fire

blazing

His cold eyes flashed

up from

Hell's abyss;

His large white wolf-teeth angrily he gnashed,

His blue

lips

parted like a tigress's:

His dusky destrier was with foam besplashed,

And

fiery serpents did

around him

hiss,

Writhing amid his war-steed's misty mane,

Whose

hoofs the young grass scorched like fiery rain.

XXIV.
As he rode down,

A hideous
Some

there mustered in the rear

flock,

shapeless.

some few

in

human

form.

Here came, crouching by, pale Fear,

Revenge and Wrath, and Rapine, a base swarm;

And

Cruelty and Murder, and their peer,

Red
Of

fire

Persecution, pouring a hot storm

and blood from

his relentless

All these are under Anarchy's

hand

;

command.

XXV.
When

the horde passed below the mountain's brow,

With clashing
Within the

hoof,

mad

hall there rose

As though a thousand

turmoil and loud din,

a wild halloo,

fiends rejoiced therein;

83

The upper
The
The

air vibrated it unto,

currents trembled of

its

crimson sheen;

Hghtning-lofts were shaken; and our boat

Rocked on the strand where the harsh echo smote.

XXVI.

Then did

Ariel

lift

the

snowy

Of our ethereal barque.

And up behind
Murmuring

sail,

The helm he

took,

us sprang a gentle gale,

astern, like a sweet

summer-brook,

That broad-leaved water-plants from daylight veil;—
And, while the

Upon

the prow,

I

sail

a snowy brightness shook

lay and watched the boat,

Steered by Ariel, on

its

voyage

float.

XXVII.

Then, passing swiftly with a favoring

Round

We did

gale.

the grey forehead of the storm-scarred

descend.

hill.

Near us the moonlight pale

Slept in thick masses, soberly and

In the deep nooks of

many a

still.

purple vale.

Of frosted mist; and down a ringing

rill

Of sunlight, flowing past a lofty bank

Of amber cloud, toward the green earth we sank.
84

XXVIII.

And then we

passed by mountain-nourished rivers,

Vexed to white foam by rocks
Near hoary

crags,

by

their sides that galled;

lightning split to shivers,

Peopled by nervous eagles, grey and bald;
Forests wherein the wind-wave always quivers.

Shaking their deep hearts green as emerald;

Lakes that,

woman's bosom, panting

like

Robed with the

foam

living

swell,

of asphodel.

XXIX.
Within the shadow

of old

Along these lakes we

crumbling columns,

sailed,

and saw beneath

Great water-snakes rolling their scaly volumes

Among

the water-vines that there did wreathe;

Through chasms

of purple gloom, with rivers

Moaning between

And then
And

their jagged, rocky teeth;

again above the earth

lowered the

solemn

sail,

we

lifted.

and helmlessly there

drifted.

XXX.
Below

us, stretching

from the broad green sea

Into wide prairies, did a fair land

Studded with lakes as

And

blue

hills

still

lie.

as porphyry

sleeping in the bluer sky,

85

—
From whose

white cones' serene sublimity

The snowy

lightning dazzled the sun's eye;

The amethystine

To

fling their

rivers thence rolled

down

foam on Ocean's hoary crown.

XXXI.

Great

cities,

And on
And

queen-like, stood

upon

his shore,

the banks of those majestic rivers,

near broad lakes, where at the awful roar

Of one great cataract the stunned earth shivers:
Ships went and

came

in squadrons, flocking o'er

New World

That Ocean which the Old and

Shading the bays and rivers with their
Their starred

flags

severs,

sails,

laughing at propitious gales.

XXXII.

Broad

fields

spread inland, robed in green and gold,

And waving
From where
To

with a mighty wealth of grain,

the bear snarled at the Arctic cold.

the Mexique Gulf, and the Pacific Main;

Far South,

With

in

snowy undulations,

their white harvests

And where

rolled.

many

a treeless plain;

the Sierra westwardly inclines.

Gleamed a new Ophir, with

its glittering

86

mines.

XXXIII.
The Throne
Its

of Liberty stood in that land,

guards the

Law and

Constitution; these,

These and no other held supreme command.

And

everywhere, through

Grim Despotism
Held

all

all

the land, was peace.

fast in his iron

men's rights

hand

in the ancient

Monarchies;

But Freedom reigned here undisturbed and calm,
Holding an eagle on her snowy palm.

XXXIV.
Then, as

I

gazed,

Transparent to

Or

it

seemed men's hearts became

me

as the crimsoned

air.

as the thin sheet of a subtle flame;

And

I

could see the passions working there

Like restless serpents;

And

how they went and came.

writhed or slept within their fiery

So that

I

saw the cause

lair;

of each vibration

That shook the heart-strings

of that youthful nation.

XXXV.
I

watched the souls

That
I

saw

of all that people,

when

train of fiends did thitherward repair;

old creeping Avarice crouch therein,

Like a caged panther; and his grizzled hair
87

Choked up the

springs of Virtue, so that

Were proud the

And

men

Devil's livery to wear,

did begin to count and calculate

That Union's value which had made them

great.

XXXVI.

I

saw red Rashness and Ambition urge

Men

to

deeds for

ill

Like the free eagle's,

From

office;

lo!

they swift emerge

the dens and caves of earth, and upward spring,

With daring

flight;

but

like the baffled surge.

That doth against a rock

They

with a wing

are repelled;

some

Withers their plumes; a

masses

its

fling,

great, calm, kingly eye

while they

little

fly,

XXXVII.

And

then,

still

Drop on the

striving with their shrivelled wings.
earth,

and

in

each cankered soul

Pale Disappointment crouches,

Envy

clings.

Rage, Hate, Despair at the sweet sunlight scowl,

Revenge and

fiery

Anger dart

their stings

Into themselves, and with the sharp pain howl;

Then

forth these patriots go, a motley brood,

And preach

sedition to the multitude.

88

XXXVIII.
Then Faction and the Lust

for office

shook

Their filthy wings over the whole land, lighting

On

hill

The

And

and

plain,

by

river, lake

fires of discord,

and new hates

The

exciting;

lean Corruption sneaked in every nook,

With Avarice's hoards
Till

and brook

men no

longer

to crime inviting;

saw that

glittering Star,

Constitution, shining from afar.

XXXIX.
Fanaticism preached a new crusade.

And

Bigotry

damned

slavery as a crime;

Intolerance, brandishing his

Denounced the Southron

The

murderous blade.
in

bad prose and rhyme;

Pulpit preached rebellion; men, dismayed,

Saw

the red portents of a bloody time

Burn ominous upon the Northern sky.

And

sword-like comets, threatening, blaze on high.

XL.
Treason, without disguise,

all

clad in mail.

Stalked boldly over the distracted land
Cries of Disunion swelled on every gale;

The Ship

of State

drew near the rocky strand,
89

With rent

sails,

through the lightning and the

Her mariners a

And Freedom,

reckless,

hail;

drunken band;

shuddering, closed her eyes, and

Their vessel on the weltering seas to

left

drift.

XLI.

Then Anarchy turned

Whose
Filling

iron hoofs

loose his

maddened

steed,

went clanging through the

land,

men's hearts with fear and shapeless dread;

Then leaped on board, and with audacious hand.
Grasped he the helm, and turned the

Toward unknown

vessel's

seas, and, at his fierce

head

command.

Through the red foam and howling waves, the dark,
Ill-visaged mariners to ruin sailed the barque.

XLII.

I

shuddered for a time, and looked again.

Watching the day
Wild

War had

of that eventful

dawn;

broken his adamantine chain,

Bestrid the steed of Anarchy, and

His bloody scimiter; a

drawn

fiery rain

Of blood poured on the land, and scorched the corn;

Wild shouts, mad

And

cries,

and frequent trumpets rang.

iron hoofs thundered with constant clang.

90

XLIII.

I

saw and heard no more,

And would have

had not

fallen to the earth,

and caught

Ariel stooped

for I did faint,

me

as I went.

He raised the sail, and left that fearful
And while into the soft, cool air I leant.

spot;

Drinking the wind that followed the swift boat,

He

said to

Ringing

me

with gentle voice and clear.

like tones aeolian in

my

ear:

XLIV.
"Thou hast not seen the woes that

The
The

long,

dark days, that lengthen into years.

reign of rapine,

The bloody

The

are to come.

fields,

when the laws

are

dumb.

the hearth-stones wet with tears;

starving children, wrangling for a crumb,

The

And

cries of ravished

maidens, that

God

does not heed, the blackened walls that stand

Amid

the graves, through

all

the wasted land.

XLV.
"Go,

hears,

tell

The
That

your misled people the sad

bitter

woes and sharp calamities,

in the swiftly-coming

The

fate.

Future wait;

fruit of Faction's sordid villainies,

91

Of discord and dissension, greed and hate,

And

all

that in

man

base and brutal

is;

Unless they guard, vdth sleepless vigilance.
Their liberties against such dire mischance."

XLVI.

He

said

no more; meanwhile we kept along

The elemental greenness

of the ocean,

Whose great breast throbbed and trembled with the strong
Stern pulses of

Across

still

Of misty

its

vibratory motion;

bays,

mid many a tangled throng

isles,

sleeping like sweet devotion

In woman's heart, bordered with low white shores,

Running

inland with green level floors.

off

XLVII.

We saw grey

water-plants that fanned the deep,

With golden

hair, far

down beneath the

boat;

Caverns, shell-paven, where the Naiads sleep;

Clouds of thick light through the great Vast that

Great emerald-rifts, wherein the ripples keep

A

constant

Broad beds

murmur

of seolic notes;

of coral, rosy as the

The Radiant

sea-flowers thick on

92

Dawn,

many a

lawn.

float;

XLVIII.

And

then we

left

Through the

Unto

my

the boat, and quick descended,

we had

clear air, as

home, wherein

I

found extended

That which again became

Then with a

brief adieu

far

behind long

Leaving

me

meditating on

still

like

my sad

soul's prison;

he upward wended,

While

Which

first arisen.

lines of light did glisten;

my

dream.

deep and dark realty doth seem.
1833.

93

INVOCATION.
What

cheer, Imperial

Mountain?

Titan, hail!

distant crest gleams in the morning light,

Thy

Like a small shallop's broad and snowy

Over

What

still

waters urging

its

swift flight.

cheer, old thunder-scarred

On which

sail.

and wrinkled peak!

the elements in vain their fury wreak?

On thy wide

shoulders rests the eternal snow.

Wherein broad

rivers

have their hidden springs;

Down

thy rough sides impetuous torrents

The

cataract with sullen thunder rings,

And

flashing fiercely

round thine aged

flow.

feet,

Against thy patient rocks the fretted waters beat.

Through the dark foam and fluctuating

surge,

That ever dash thy rugged breast upon,

Thou dost

in silent

majesty emerge.

Lifting thy forehead proudly to the sun:

Like a great truth, simple, and yet sublime.

Gleaming above the surge

of Error

94

and

of

Time.

Thou

standest there for ever, day and night,

Like a great man, calm, self-possessed, serene;

Who, doing what he knoweth

to be right,

Stands up, firm-footed, earnest, and sincere.

Calmly the suffrage
Seeks not

its

of the world contemns.

worthless praise, nor heeds

Above the Northern

Thy haughty

if it

condemns.

Cordilleras towers

crest, like

some strong feudal King,

Elect of Principalities and Powers,

To whom

Who

far isles unwilling tributes bring;

holds with

Among

pomp and majesty

his court.

the mail-clad Barons that his throne support.

Thou standest

firm there, like an iron

will.

Triumphant over time and circumstance.
Sternly resolved

And

its

ever towards

duty to
its

fulfill.

object to advance;

While careless of the clamorous hounds that bay.

Through

all

impediments

it

marches on

95

its

way.

How many
First

ages

since the

snows

on thy forehead and wide shoulders

How many since
Wondering at

On

is it,

the wandering sun arose,
thee, grim-visaged sentinel!

the wide desert's western margin

To watch

its

solemn

Wast thou an

loneliness, as

set,

thou dost yet?

island in the overflow

Of the great flood?

Look

fell?

Did any from afar

wistfully to thy eternal snow,

Over new oceans gleaming

Or did the waves thee

also

like

a star?

overwhelm.

Last spot of earth in the wide waters' angry realm.

Howe'er

it

be,

still

thou art planted there.

As when the Deluge round thee ceased

Thy snows

the bright hues of the morning wear:

The crimson

On thy

to roar;

glories of spring-sunrise

pour

white brow that proudly fronts the sky,

Bidding a calm defiance to Day's burning eye.

96

;

Fierce storms for centuries against thee dash,

On thy
The

bare head rain torrents of sharp

baffled lightnings

round thy temples

Over thee roar the thunder and the

What matter

hail,

flash.

gale.

to the calm and well-poised soul,

Though round

The tempests

it

slander howl, and persecution

vanish.

The round moon

roll.

shines bright;

In Heaven's glad ear the cataract's grave

hymn

Sounds, through the solemn silence of the night:

Around thy brow the white

stars thickly

swim.

Anxious thine aged solitude to cheer,

Even

as a wife's fond eyes shine, earnest

So

the storms and clouds that gather round

all

A
And

and

sincere.

great man's reputation, pass away,

leave

it

with a brighter glory crowned

Above the elemental surge and spray.

To

shine on distant ages, far across

The stormy sea

of Time, on

whose wild waves they

toss.

1844.

97

ODE TO THE MOCKING-BIRD.
Thou

glorious

Thy many

mocker

of the world!

I

hear

voices ringing through the glooms

Of these green solitudes; and

all

the clear,

Bright joyance of their song enthralls the ear,

And

floods the heart.

Of vanished nations

No

light

Glad scorner

The

Where none

Where

died:

mad

sing,

thy notes ring

by whom thou once wast

of all cities!

world's

They have

them but thou; and thou mayst

too, perhaps, as

their bones

page illumes

starlit

of these nations:

care for

Over me,

Over

thy music-tide:

from History's

The memory

None

roll

Over the sphered tombs

Thou

deified.

dost leave

turmoil and incessant din.

in others'

honesty believe.

the old sigh, the young turn gray and grieve.

Where misery gnaws the maiden's heart within;
Thou flee'st far into the dark green woods,
Where, with thy flood

of music,

thou canst win

Their heart to harmony, and where intrudes

No

discord on thy melodies.

Among
Is

Oh, where.

the sweet musicians of the

air.

one so dear as thou to these old solitudes?

98

The

Ha! what a burst was that!

aeolian strain

Goes floating through the tangled passages
Of the

A

still

woods; and now

it

comes again,

multitudinous melody, like a rain

Of glassy music under echoing
Close by a ringing lake.

Even

as a

gem

Thin waves

is

I

like

of crimson flame;

As men love

To

first

its

fill

till

it roll

we become.

of perfect pleasure,

dumb.

a swift runner clinging to the goal.

can not love the

For the

of happiness,

wrapped, when round

With the excess

And pant

wraps the soul

It

With a bright harmony

trees,

man who

light,

doth not love,

the songs of happy birds;

visions that

my

boy-heart wove.

sleep with, were that

Through the

fresh woods,

I

did rove

what time the snowy herds

Of morning clouds shrunk from the advancing sun.
Into the depths of Heaven's blue heart, as words

From

the poet's

And
I

lips float gently,

one by one,

human

and then

vanish in the

revelled in such songs,

heart;

and sorrowed, when.

With noon-heat overwrought, the music-gush was done.

99

:

I

would, sweet bird, that

Amid

with thee,

live

the eloquent grandeur of these shades.

Alone with Nature!
I

might

I

—but

it

may

not be:

have to struggle with the stormy sea
Of human

life

until existence fades

Thou

Into death's darkness.

wilt sing

and soar

Through the thick woods and shadow-chequered
While pain and sorrow cast no dimness

The

brilUance of thy heart; but I

As now,

As

my garments

of regret

glades,

o'er

must wear,

and

care.

penitents of old their galling sackcloth wore.

Yet,

why complain? What though fond hopes

Have overshadowed
Content's soft music

There

is

is

not

all

paths with gloom?

unheard

a voice sweeter than thine, sweet

To welcome me,
There

is

Life's green

within

an eye, with

The darkness

my humble

bird.

home;

love's devotion bright,

of existence to illume.

Theh why complain? When Death
Over the

deferred

spirit,

my

shall cast his blight

cold bones shall rest

Beiieath these trees; and from thy swelling breast

Over them pour thy song,

like

a rich flood of

light.

1834.

100

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