Classic Poem

And now we gan draw near unto the gate,
Right well escapte the danger, as methought,
When that at hand a sound of feet we heard.
My father then, gazing throughout the dark,
Cried on me, "Flee son! They are at hand.'
With that bright shields and shene armours I saw.
But then, I know not what unfriendly god
My troubled wit from me bereft for fear:
For while I ran by the most secret streets,
Eschewing still the common haunted track,
From me caitiff, alas! bereaved was
Creusa then, my spouse, I wot not how,
Whether by fate, or missing of the way,
Or that she was by weariness retain'd,
But never sith these eyes might her behold;
Nor did I yet perceive that she was lost,
Ne never backward turned I my mind,
Till we came to the hill, whereas there stood
The old temple dedicate to Ceres.
And when that we were there assembled all,
She was only away, deceiving us
Her spouse, her son, and all her company.
What god or man did I not then accuse,
Near woode for ire, or what more cruel chance
Did hap to me, in all Troy's overthrow?
Ascanius to my feres I then betook,
With Anchises, and eke the Troyan gods.
And left them hid within a valley deep.
And to the town I gan me hie again,
Clad in bright arms, and bent for to renew
Aventures past, to search throughout the town,
And yield my head to perils once again.
And first the walls and dark entry I sought
Of the same gate whereat I issued out;
Holding backward the steps where we had come
In the dark night, looking all round about:
In every place the upsome sights I saw;
The silence self of night aghast my sprite.
From hence again I pass'd unto our house,
If she by chance had been returned home.
The Greeks were there, and had it all beset:
The wasting fire, blown up by drift of wind,
Above the roof in blazing flame sprang up,
The sound whereof with fury pierced the skies.
To Priam's palace and the castle then
I made; and thre at Juno's sanctuair,
In the void porches, Phenix, Ulysses eke,
Stern guardians stood, watching of the spoil.
The riches here were set, reft from the brent
Temples of Troy: the tables of the gods,
The vessels eke that were of massy gold,
And vestures spoil'd, were gather'd all in heap.
The children orderly, and mothers pale for fright,
Long ranged on a row stood round about.
So bold was I to show my voice that night
With clepes and cries to fill the street throughout,
With Creuse' name in sorrow, with vain tears;
And oftensithes the same for to repeat.
The town restless with fury as I sought,
The unlucky figure of Creusa's ghost,
Of stature more than wont, stood fore mine eyen.
Abashed then I woxe: therewith my hair
Gan start right up: my voice stack in my throat,
When with such words she gan my heart remove:
"What helps to yield unto such furious rage,
Sweet spouse?' quod she. "Without will of the gods
This chanced not: ne lawful was for thee
To lead away Creusa hence with thee:
The King of the high heaven suffereth it not.
A long exile thou art assign'd to bear,
Long to furrow large space of stormy seas:
So shalt thou reach at last Hesperian land,
Where Lydian Tiber with his gentle stream
Mildly doth flow along the fruitful fields.
There mirthful wealth, there kingdom is for thee;
There a king's child prepar'd to be thy make.
For thy beloved Creusa stint thy tears:
For now shall I not see the proud abodes
Of Myrmidons, nor yet of Dolopes:
Ne I, a Troyan lady and the wife
Unto the son of Venus the goddess,
Shall go a slave to serve the Greekish dames.
Me here the god's great mother holds------
And now farewell: and keep in father's breast
The tender love of thy young son and mine.'
This having said, she left me all in tears
And minding much to speak; but she was gone,
And subtly fled into the weightless air.
Thrice raught I with mine arms to accoll her neck:
Thrice did my hands vain hold the image escape,
Like nimble winds, and like the flying dream.
So, night spent out, return I to my feres;
And there wondering I find together swarm'd
A number of mates, mothers, and men,
A rout exiled, a wretched multitude,
From each-where flock together, prest to pass
With heart and goods to whatsoever land
By sliding seas me listed them to lead.
And now rose Lucifer above the ridge
Of lusty Ide, and brought the dawning light.
The Greeks held the entries of the gates beset:
Of help there was no hope. Then gave I place,
Took up my sire; and hasted to the hill.