168
ORPHEUS
And there [ vowed a solemn oath
To Aphrodite fair,
Sealing that sacramental troth
With a long curl of hair,
And the strange prayer’s reiterant growth
Sent shining through the air.
(Lavoking Aphrodite)
Daughter of Glory, child
Of Earth’s Dione mild
By the I'ather of all, the A2gis-bearing King !
Spouse, daughter, mother of God,
Queen of the blest abode
In Cyprus’ splendour singly glittering.
Sweet sister unto me,
I cry aloud to thee!
I laugh upon thee laughing, O dew caught
up from sea!
Drawn by sharp sparrow and dove
And swan’s wide plumes of love,
And all the swallow’s swifter vehemence,
And, subtler than the Sphinx,
The ineffable iynx 1
Heralds thy splendour swooning into sense,
When from the bluest bowers
And greenest-hearted hours
Of Heaven thou smilest toward earth, a
miracle of flowers !
Down to the loveless sea
Where lay Persephone
Violate, where the shade of earth is black,
Crystalline out of space
Flames the immortal face!
The glory of the comet-tailéd track
Blinds all black earth with tears.
Silence awakes and hears
The music of thy moving come over the.
starry spheres.
Wrapped in rose, green and gold,
Blues many and manifold,
A cloud of incense hides thy splendour of:
light ;
1 An imaginary animal, sacred to Venus.
Hides from the prayer’s distress
Thy loftier loveliness
Till thy veil’s glory shrouds the earth from
night ;
And silence speaks indeed,
Seeing the subtler speed
Of its own thought than speech of the Pan-
dean reed!
There no voice may be heard !
No place for any word !
The heart’s whole fervour silently speeds to
thee,
Immaculate ! and craves
Thy kisses or the grave’s,
Till, knowing its unworthiness to woo thee,
Remembers, grows content
With the old element,
And asks the lowlier grace its earlier music
meant.
So, Lady of all power!
Kindle this firstling flower
The rainbow nymph above the waterfall
Into a mortal shade
Of thee, immortal maid,
That in her love I gather and recall
Some memory mighty and mute
In love’s poor substitute
Of thee, thy Love too high, the impossible
pursuit !
Then from the cloud a golden voice
Great harmonies persuade,
That all the cosmic lawns rejoice
Like laughter of a maid ;
Till evolution had no choice,
But heard it, and obeyed.
‘¢ Show by thy magic art
The hero-story !
Awake the maiden heart
With tunes of glory!
With mortal joys and tears,
Keen woes and blisses,
Awake her faiths and fears,
Her tears and kisses !”’