Collected Works (Vol. II)

ACTUS QUARTUS III The forehead of the snake is bright ORPHEUS, - With one immortal star, ° But now Lighting her coils with living light I see the haze lift on the water-way, To where the nenuphar And hidden headlands loom again. Sleeps for her couch. All darkness dreams ‘The thing that is not, only seems. JASON. I know That star upon the serpent’s head Is called the soul of man : That light in shadows subtly shed The glamour of life’s plan. The sea whereon that lotus grows Is thought’s abyss of tears and woes. Leave Sirenusa ! Even Greece Forget ! they are not there! By worship cometh not the Peace, The Silence not by prayer ! Leave the illusions, life and time And death, and seek that star sublime— Until the lotus and the sea And snake no longer are, And single through eternity Exists alone the Star, And utter Knowledge rise and cease In that which is beyond the Peace ! JASON. Those isles have faded : was this vision true? HERACLES, I know not what hath passed: I seem asleep Still, with the dream yet racing in my brain. THESEUS. There was a sweetness: whether sight or song I know not, JASON. But my veins grew strony and swollen And madness came upon me. MEDEA. You are here, Let that suffice. Jemember not ! The pleasant portals. CHORUS. Here is home at last. ORPHEUS. The sunset comes: the mist is lifted now To let the last kiss of the daylight fall Once ere night whisper. ‘‘ Sleep !” JASON. And see ! the ship Glides between walls of purple. MEDEA. The green land Cools the tired eyes. CHORUS. The rocks stand sentinel. MEDEA. Let still the song that saved us gladden us. Lift up thy lyre, sweet Orpheus, on the sea. ORPHEuS.,} Over a sea like stained glass At sunset like a chrysopras :— Our smooth-oared vessel over-rides Crimson and green and purple tides. Between the rocky isles we pass, And greener islets gay with grass ; Between the over-arching sides Our pinnace glides. 1 The song describes the approach to Hong Kong Harbour.