Stands 17 and takes the morning: but in My heart may wander from its deeper woe.

Far up the solitary morning smote Sloped downward to her seat from the The streaks of virgin snow. With down

Hear me, O Earth, hear me, O Hills, O Disclosed a fruit of pure Hesperian gold,
Caves
That smelt ambrosially, and while I look'd
That house the cold crown'd snake! O And listen'd, the full-flowing river of

For the most fair,' would seem to award

it thine,

As lovelier than whatever Oread haunt
The knolls of Ida, loveliest in all grace
Of movement, and the charm of married
brows."

'Dear mother Ida, harken ere I die. IIe prest the blossom of his lips to mine, And added "This was cast upon the board, When all the full-faced presence of the Gods

Ranged in the halls of Peleus; whereupon Rose feud, with question unto whom 'twere due :

But light-foot Iris brought it yester-eve,

'O mother Ida, harken ere I die.
On the tree-tops a crested peacock lit,
And o'er him flow'd a golden cloud, and
lean'd

Upon him, slowly dropping fragrant dew.
Then first I heard the voice of her, to
whom

Coming thro' Heaven, like a light that
grows

Larger and clearer, with one mind the
Gods

Rise up for reverence. She to Paris made
Proffer of royal power, ample rule
Unquestion'd, overflowing revenue
Wherewith to embellish state, "from
many a vale

Delivering, that to me, by common voice, And river-sunder'd champaign clothed

'Dear mother Ida, harken ere I die. It was the deep midnoon: one silvery cloud

Had lost his way between the piney sides Of this long glen. Then to the bower they came.

Naked they came to that smooth-swarded bower,

with corn,

Or labour'd mines undrainable of ore.
Honour," she said, "and homage, tax
and toll,

From many an inland town and haven
large,

Mast-throng'd beneath her shadowing
citadel

In glassy bays among her tallest towers."

'O mother Ida, harken ere I die.
Still she spake on and still she spake of

power,

"Which in all action is the end of all;
Power fitted to the season; wisdom-bred
And throned of wisdom-from all neigh-
bour crowns

Alliance and allegiance, till thy hand

from me,

From me, Heaven's Queen, Paris, to thee

king-born,

And at their feet the crocus brake like fire, Fail from the sceptre-staff. Such boon
Violet, amaracus, and asphodel,
Lotos and lilies: and a wind arose,
And overhead the wandering ivy and vine,
This way and that, in many a wild festoon
Ran riot, garlanding the gnarled boughs
With bunch and berry and flower thro'
and thro'.

A shepherd all thy life but yet king-born,
Should come most welcome, seeing men,

in power,
Only, are likest gods, who have attain'd

Kept watch, waiting decision, made reply. Fresh as the foam, new-bathed in Paphian

wells,

""Self-reverence, self-knowledge, self- With rosy slender fingers backward drew From her warm brows and bosom her

control,

These three alone lead life to sovereign

power.

Yet not for power (power of herself
Would come uncall'd for) but to live by
law,

Acting the law we live by without fear;
And, because right is right, to follow right
Were wisdom in the scorn of conse-
quence."

'Dear mother Ida, harken ere I die.
Again she said: "I woo thee not with gifts.
Sequel of guerdon could not alter me
To fairer. Judge thou me by what I am,
So shalt thou find me fairest.

deep hair

Ambrosial, golden round her lucid throat And shoulder from the violets her light foot

Shone rosy-white, and o'er her rounded form

Between the shadows of the vine-bunches Floated the glowing sunlights, as she moved.

'Dear mother Ida, harken ere I die. She with a subtle smile in her mild eyes, The herald of her triumph, drawing nigh Half-whisper'd in his ear, “I promise thee

Yet, indeed, The fairest and most loving wife in
Greece,"

If gazing on divinity disrobed
Thy mortal eyes are frail to judge of fair, She spoke and laugh'd: I shut my sight
Unbias'd by self-profit, oh! rest thee sure

for fear :

That I shall love thee well and cleave to But when I look'd, Paris had raised his

So that my vigour, wedded to thy blood, And I beheld great Here's angry eyes,

As she withdrew into the golden cloud,
And I was left alone within the bower;
And from that time to this I am alone,
And I shall be alone until I die.

'Yet, mother Ida, harken ere I die. Fairest-why fairest wife? am I not fair? My love hath told me so a thousand times. Methinks I must be fair, for yesterday, When I past by, a wild and wanton pard, Eyed like the evening star, with playful tail Crouch'd fawning in the weed. Most loving is she?

Among the fragments tumbled from the
glens,

Or the dry thickets, I could meet with her,
The Abominable, that uninvited came
Into the fair Peleïan banquet-hall,
And cast the golden fruit upon the board,
And bred this change; that I might speak
my mind,

And tell her to her face how much I hate
Her presence, hated both of Gods and

men.

'O mother, hear me yet before I die. Ah me, my mountain shepherd, that my Hath he not sworn his love a thousand times,

arms

Were wound about thee, and my hot lips In this green valley, under this green hill, Ev'n on this hand, and sitting on this

prest

Close, close to thine in that quick-falling
dew

Of fruitful kisses, thick as Autumn rains
Flash in the pools of whirling Simois.

stone?

Seal'd it with kisses? water'd it with tears?
O happy tears, and how unlike to these!
O happy Heaven, how canst thou see my
face?

O happy earth, how canst thou bear my
weight?

'O mother, hear me yet before I die. They came, they cut away my tallest pines, My dark tall pines, that plumed the O death, death, death, thou ever-floating

High over the blue gorge, and all between There are enough unhappy on this earth, The snowy peak and snow-white cataract Pass by the happy souls, that love to live : Foster'd the callow eaglet-from beneath I pray thee, pass before my light of life, Whose thick mysterious boughs in the dark | And shadow all my soul, that I may die. Thou weighest heavy on the heart within, The panther's roar came muffled, while I Weigh heavy on my eyelids : let me die.

morn

Ere it is born: her child!-a shudder I made a feast; I bade him come;

She died she went to burning flame :
She mix'd her ancient blood with shame.
The wind is howling in turret and A glorious Devil, large in heart and

Whole weeks and months, and early and That did love Beauty only, (Beauty seen