 | Rhymes to be traded for bread |  |
III
THE DRAGONS GAVE HEED TO THAT WORD,
LIKE FIELD-FLOWERS THEY BOWED TO HER BREATH,
WHO MADE THEM AND ORDERED THEM FORTH,
WITH POWERS OF CREATION AND DEATH.
THE CHILD SMOOTHED THEIR LEONINE MANES.
FROM WIZARDRY HID IN THAT HAND,
THEY GREW AS THE THUNDER-CLOUDS GROW,
ENCOMPASSING WATER AND LAND,
AND OH, HOW THEIR SERPENTINE SCALES
FLASHED, BATTLED AND CRASHED IN THE AIR!
THEY CLIMBED WITH ALL-CONQUERING COILS,
GOD'S CRYSTAL, IMPERIAL STAIR.
THEY ROARED THROUGH THE PATHWAYS OF DAY,
SKY SWEEPING THEIR FOAM-FURROWS FLEW,
THE SUN WAS AN ISLAND BESIEGED,
THEIR PENNONS TALL WAVES OF THE BLUE.
BEHEMOTHS THEY WERE OF THAT TIDE.
OVERHEAD THAT MEN CALL THE HIGH NOON,
THEIR CRIES IN BLOOD-STIRRING ACCORD,
LIKE TRUMPETS OF DOOMSDAY IN TUNE!
LIKE FIELD-FLOWERS THEY BOWED TO HER BREATH,
WHO MADE THEM AND ORDERED THEM FORTH,
WITH POWERS OF CREATION AND DEATH.
THE CHILD SMOOTHED THEIR LEONINE MANES.
FROM WIZARDRY HID IN THAT HAND,
THEY GREW AS THE THUNDER-CLOUDS GROW,
ENCOMPASSING WATER AND LAND,
AND OH, HOW THEIR SERPENTINE SCALES
FLASHED, BATTLED AND CRASHED IN THE AIR!
THEY CLIMBED WITH ALL-CONQUERING COILS,
GOD'S CRYSTAL, IMPERIAL STAIR.
THEY ROARED THROUGH THE PATHWAYS OF DAY,
SKY SWEEPING THEIR FOAM-FURROWS FLEW,
THE SUN WAS AN ISLAND BESIEGED,
THEIR PENNONS TALL WAVES OF THE BLUE.
BEHEMOTHS THEY WERE OF THAT TIDE.
OVERHEAD THAT MEN CALL THE HIGH NOON,
THEIR CRIES IN BLOOD-STIRRING ACCORD,
LIKE TRUMPETS OF DOOMSDAY IN TUNE!
AND NOW THEY WERE GONE LIKE THE WIND,
AND CLOUDLESS AND SILENT THE HOUR,
THE SIBYL WENT BACK TO THE TOWN,
AND HER SONS HURRIED FORTH IN HER POWER.
AND CLOUDLESS AND SILENT THE HOUR,
THE SIBYL WENT BACK TO THE TOWN,
AND HER SONS HURRIED FORTH IN HER POWER.
| Rhymes to be traded for bread | |