 | Silenus |  |
“As I by mortal thraldom am debased
Below the brute, ah! never more to rise,
I would with mine own degradation cease.
No longer shaming the Divinity
From whom I sprang; or as a shameless lure
To mimicry, when rightly I should flame
A fiery signal warding dangerous steeps
About whose feet wreck and wild billows play.
Below the brute, ah! never more to rise,
I would with mine own degradation cease.
No longer shaming the Divinity
From whom I sprang; or as a shameless lure
To mimicry, when rightly I should flame
A fiery signal warding dangerous steeps
About whose feet wreck and wild billows play.
“O Pallas! Great Athena! Wisdom's self!
We know Thy sure unswerving course, unchecked,
Speeds to an aim Thyself alone canst see;
Unheeding mortals, save a gracious glance
Occasionally cast, which they perverse
Strain utmost wilfulness to blink; and hate
Even to slaughter and dark dungeon walls,
Thy worshipper who lauds the light divine.
We know Thy sure unswerving course, unchecked,
Speeds to an aim Thyself alone canst see;
Unheeding mortals, save a gracious glance
Occasionally cast, which they perverse
Strain utmost wilfulness to blink; and hate
97
Thy worshipper who lauds the light divine.
“What comes so sadly and so dear to most
Disquiets not the passionless repose,
Marking Thy mien all other Gods above.
Canst Thou look downward from that lofty height
Regarding me with other than cold scorn?
If tenderness of perfectness is part,
Thine eyes may pityingly upon me fall,
And in their radiance I may cease to be!”
Disquiets not the passionless repose,
Marking Thy mien all other Gods above.
Canst Thou look downward from that lofty height
Regarding me with other than cold scorn?
If tenderness of perfectness is part,
Thine eyes may pityingly upon me fall,
And in their radiance I may cease to be!”
| Silenus | |