Classic Poem

XXVI.

'Twas thus the sorrowing bard addressed
That presence blind and dim,
Startling the visionary space,
That had no help for him;
But then he raised in haste his eyes,
For lo! a sudden ray
Around the Goddess cast a light,
Her own peculiar day.

XXVII.

A living form behold she stood,
Of more than sculptured grace!
The high immortal Queen from heaven,
The calm Olympian face!
Eyes pure from human tear or smile,
Yet ruling all on earth,
And limbs whose garb of golden air
Was Dawn's primeval birth!

XXVIII.

With tones like music of a lyre,
Continuous, piercing, low,
The sovran lips began to speak,
Spoke on in liquid flow;
It seemed the distant Ocean's voice,
Brought near and shaped to speech,
But breathing with a sense beyond
What words of man may reach.

XXIX.

" Weak child! Not I the puny power
Thy wish would have me be,
A rose-leaf floating with the wind
Upon a summer sea.
If such thou need'st, go range the fields,
And hunt the gilded fly,
And when it mounts above thy head,
Then lay thee down and die.

XXX.

" The spells which rule in earth and stars
Each mightiest thought that lives,
Are stronger than the kiss a child
In sudden fancy gives.
They cannot change, or fail, or fade,
Nor deign o'er aught to sway
Too weak to suffer and to strive,
And tired while still 'tis day.