"Oh, save me! Oh, guide me! And bid the deep hide me, For he grasps me now by the hair!" The loud ocean heard, To its blue depth stirred, And divided at her prayer; And under the water The Earth's white daughter Behind her descended, Alpheus rushed behind, As an eagle pursuing Down the streams of the cloudy wind. Under the bowers Where the Ocean Powers Sit on their pearled thrones, Through the coral woods Of the weltering floods, Over heaps of unvalued stones; Through the dim beams Which amid the streams Weave a network of coloured light; And under the caves Where the shadowy waves Are as green as the forest's night; Outspeeding the shark, And the swordfish dark, Under the ocean foam, And up through the rifts Of the mountain clifts They passed to their Dorian home. And now from their fountains Down one vale where the morning basks, They ply their watery tasks. When they love but live no more. THE QUESTION. I DREAMED that, as I wandered by the way, Bare winter suddenly was changed to spring, And gentle odours led my steps astray, Mixed with a sound of waters murmuring Along a shelving bank of turf, which lay Under a copse, and hardly dared to fling Its green arms round the bosom of the stream, [est in dream. But kissed it and then fled, as thou might There grew pied wind-flowers and violets, Daisies, those pearlèd Arcturi of the earth, The constellated flower that never sets; Faint oxlips; tender bluebells, at whose birth The sod scarce heaved; and that tall flower that wets Its mother's face with heaven-collected tears, [it hears. When the low wind, its playmate's voice, And in the warm hedge grew lush eglantine, Green cow-bind and the moonlightcoloured May, [whose wine And cherry blossoms, and white cups, Was the bright dew yet drained not by the day; And wild roses, and ivy serpentine, With its dark buds and leaves, wander ing astray; [gold, And flowers azure, black, and streaked with Fairer than any wakened eyes behold. And nearer to the river's trembling edge There grew broad flag-flowers, purple prankt with white, And starry river buds among the sedge, And floating water - lilies, broad and bright, Which lit the oak that overhung the hedge With moonlight beams of their own watery light; [green And bulrushes, and reeds of such deep Assoothed the dazzled eye with sober sheen. So speaking, and by fervent love endowed With faith, the suppliant heavenward lifts her hands; While, like the sun emerging from a cloud, Oh, terror! what hath she perceived ?--Oh, Mild Hermes spake, and touched her with his wand That calms all fear: "Such grace hath crowned thy prayer, Laodamia; that at Jove's command Accept the gift-behold him face to face! Forth sprang the impassioned queen her lord to clasp! Again that consummation she essayed; But unsubstantial form eludes her grasp As often as that eager grasp was made. The phantom parts-but parts to re-unite, And re-assume his place before her sight. "Protesilàus, lo! thy guide is gone! Confirm, I pray, the vision with thy voice: This is our palace,-yonder is thy throne: Speak, and the floor thou tread'st on will rejoice. Not to appal me have the gods bestowed This precious boon, and blest a sad abode." "Great Jove, Laodamia! doth not leave His gifts imperfect:-spectre though I be, I am not sent to scare thee or deceive; But in reward of thy fidelity. And something also did my worth obtain; For fearless virtue bringeth boundless gain. "Thou know'st, the Delphic oracle foretold That the first Greek who touched the Trojan strand Should die; but me the threat could not withhold. A generous cause a victim did demand, And forth I leapt upon the sandy plain, A self-devoted chief-by Hector slain." "Supreme of heroes-bravest, noblest, best! Thy matchless courage I bewail no more, Which then, when tens of thousands were deprest By doubt, propelled thee to the fatal shore; Thou found'st-and I forgive thee-here thou art A nobler counsellor than my poor heart. "But thou, though capable of sternest deed, Wert kind as resolute, and good as brave; And he, whose power restores thee, hath decreed [the grave; That thou shouldst cheat the malice of Redundant are thy locks, thy lips as fair As when their breath enriched Thessalian air. "No spectre greets me, no vain shadow this: Come, blooming hero, place thee by my side! Give, on this well-known couch, one nuptial kiss To me, this day, a second time thy bride!" Jove frowned in heaven; the conscious Parcæ threw Upon those roseate lips a Stygian hue. "This visage tells thee that my doom is past: " 'Be taught, O faithful consort, to control Rebellious passion; for the gods approve The depth, and not the tumult, of the soul; A fervent, not ungovernable love. [mourn Thy transports moderate; and meekly When I depart, for brief is my sojourn.' 'Ah, wherefore? Did not Hercules by force Wrest from the guardian monster of the tomb Alcestis, a reanimated corse, [bloom? Given back to dwell on earth in vernal Medea's spells dispersed the weight of years, And son stood a youth 'mid youthful peers. "The gods to us are merciful, and they Yet further may relent; for mightier far Than strength of nerve and sinew, or the sway Of magic potent over sun and star, |