05.05.2009, 18:54
ORPHEUS.
I thought of Orpheus, stretched a summer's day
'Neath a green plane-tree glittering in the sun,
While o'er his head her web Arachne spun,
With quiet toil; and he divined his lay,
That deepest things aimed like the gods to say,
Joying the earth with great comparison :
The wild birds went and came, and every one
Clove with a steady wing his airy way :
They turned not from his silence: plants and flowers
Grew o'er the place, more fair than wisest art
Shapes them in temples of bright stones or gold :
Then, with the music of those passing hours
Possest, rose up the poet to depart;
And his lit eye was glorious to behold.
I thought of Orpheus, stretched a summer's day
'Neath a green plane-tree glittering in the sun,
While o'er his head her web Arachne spun,
With quiet toil; and he divined his lay,
That deepest things aimed like the gods to say,
Joying the earth with great comparison :
The wild birds went and came, and every one
Clove with a steady wing his airy way :
They turned not from his silence: plants and flowers
Grew o'er the place, more fair than wisest art
Shapes them in temples of bright stones or gold :
Then, with the music of those passing hours
Possest, rose up the poet to depart;
And his lit eye was glorious to behold.