Orpheus

Stir once, move once, rise once, Eurydice! Be good to me! Rise once.—O sleep not! Listen! Is not all Nature my thrall ? Once only: be not dead, Eurydice ! Be good to me! I love you—be not dead !—rise up and say “TI feigned, I lay Thus so you kissed me”—O Eurydice, Be good to me! There is not one sweet sigh of all the old sighs— Open your eyes! Not one warm breath of the young breast: no sleep Could be so deep. The last pale lotus opens to the skies. Open your eyes ! Lift the blue eyelids under the deep lashes Till one light flashes! Wake with one supreme sigh like the old sighs! Open your eyes! I cannot leave you so, Eurydice. Come back to me! Just in the triumph, in love’s utmost hour, Life’s queenliest flower— All shattered, overblown. Eurydice, Come back to me! 112