LYRICAL AND DRAMATIC. __ 199
PENELOPE.
LYSSES ’scaped the sorceries of that queen
That turned to swine his goodly company;
And came with sails broad-burgeoning and clean
Over the ripples of his native sea.
Yet for the shores his eyes had lately seen,
He kept a half-regretful memory;
And thought, when all the flower-strewn ways were
green,
“ Better love Circe than Penelope!”
Yes. A good woman’s love will forge a chain
To break the spirit of the bravest Greek ;
While with a harlot one may leap again
Free as the waters of the western main,
And turn with no heart-pang the vessel’s beak
Out to the oceans that all seamen seek.