Tale of Archais

22 THE TALE OF ARCHAIS The mists pass slowly on the uplands steep, Far snows are luminous with rosy flecks Of lambent light, and shadow tints and decks Their distant hollows with black radiance, While the delivered fountains flash and glance Adown the hills and through the woods of pine And stately larch, with cadences divine And trills and melodies instinct with light and wine. The sun, arising, sees the sleeping youth And lumes his locks with evanescent gold, While birds and breezes, watching, hold them mute, And light and silence, the twin-born of truth, Reign o’er the meadow, and possess the wold. The poet bows his head, and lays aside his lute.