The Collected Poems of Lord De Tabley [i.e. J. B. L. Warren] |
 |
|
| I. |
| II. |
| III. |
| IV. |
| V. |
| VI. |
| VII. |
| VIII. |
| IX. |
| X. |
| XI. |
| XII. |
| XIII. |
| XIV. |
| XV. |
| XVI. |
|
HELLAS AND ROME |
 | The Collected Poems of Lord De Tabley |  |
HELLAS AND ROME
Of Greece the Muse of Glory sings,
Of Greece in furious onset brave;
Whose mighty fleets, on falcon wings,
To vengeance sweep across the wave.
Of Greece in furious onset brave;
Whose mighty fleets, on falcon wings,
To vengeance sweep across the wave.
384
There on the mounded flats of Troy
The hero captains of the morn
Come forth and conquer, tho' the boy
Of Thetis keeps his tent in scorn.
The hero captains of the morn
Come forth and conquer, tho' the boy
Of Thetis keeps his tent in scorn.
There in the sweet Ionian prime
The much-enduring sailor goes,
And from the thorny paths of time
He plucks adventure like a rose.
The much-enduring sailor goes,
And from the thorny paths of time
He plucks adventure like a rose.
There sits Atrides, grave and great,
Grim king of blood and lust-deed done,
Caught in the iron wheels of Fate
To hand the curse from sire to son.
Grim king of blood and lust-deed done,
Caught in the iron wheels of Fate
To hand the curse from sire to son.
A fated race! And who are these
With viper locks and scorpion rods,
Dim shades of ruin and disease,
Who float around his household Gods?
With viper locks and scorpion rods,
Dim shades of ruin and disease,
Who float around his household Gods?
Alas, for wife and children small:
Blood comes, as from the rosebush bloom;
The very dogs about his hall
Are conscious of their master's doom.
Blood comes, as from the rosebush bloom;
The very dogs about his hall
Are conscious of their master's doom.
Or see the fleet victorious steed
In Pindar's whirlwind sweep along,
To whom a more than mortal meed
Remains, the bard's eternal song.
In Pindar's whirlwind sweep along,
To whom a more than mortal meed
Remains, the bard's eternal song.
What are the statues Phidias cast,
But dust between the palms of Fate?
A thousand winters cannot blast
Their leaf; if Pindar celebrate
But dust between the palms of Fate?
A thousand winters cannot blast
Their leaf; if Pindar celebrate
Great Hiero, Lord of Syracuse,
Or Theron, chief of Acragas,
These despots wisely may refuse
Record in unenduring brass.
Or Theron, chief of Acragas,
These despots wisely may refuse
Record in unenduring brass.
For Pindar sang the sinewy frame,
The nimble athlete's supple grip;
He gave the gallant horse to fame,
Who passed the goal without a whip,
The nimble athlete's supple grip;
He gave the gallant horse to fame,
Who passed the goal without a whip,
385
The coursers of the island kings
Jove-born, magnanimously calm:
When gathered Greece at Elis rings
In pæan of the victor's palm.
Jove-born, magnanimously calm:
When gathered Greece at Elis rings
In pæan of the victor's palm.
Or hear the shepherd bard divine
Transfuse the music of his lay
With echoes from the mountain pine,
And wave-wash from the answering bay.
Transfuse the music of his lay
With echoes from the mountain pine,
And wave-wash from the answering bay.
And all around in pasturing flocks
His goatherds flute with plaintive reeds,
His lovers whisper fromthe rocks,
His halcyons flit o'er flowery meads:
His goatherds flute with plaintive reeds,
His lovers whisper fromthe rocks,
His halcyons flit o'er flowery meads:
Where galingale with iris blends
In plumy fringe of lady fern;
And sweet the Dorian wave descends
From topmost Ætna's snow-bright urn.
In plumy fringe of lady fern;
And sweet the Dorian wave descends
From topmost Ætna's snow-bright urn.
Or gentle Arethusa lies,
Beside her brimming fountain sweet,
With lovely brow and languid eyes,
And river lilies at her feet.
Beside her brimming fountain sweet,
With lovely brow and languid eyes,
And river lilies at her feet.
Or listen to the lordly hymn,
The weird Adonis, pealing new,
Full of the crimson twilight dim,
Bathed in Astarte's fiery dew.
The weird Adonis, pealing new,
Full of the crimson twilight dim,
Bathed in Astarte's fiery dew.
In splendid shrine without a breath
The wounded lovely hunter lies:
And who has decked the couch of death?
The sister-spouse of Ptolemies.
The wounded lovely hunter lies:
And who has decked the couch of death?
The sister-spouse of Ptolemies.
We seem to hear a god's lament,
The sobbing pathos of despair:
We seem to see her garments rent,
And ashes in ambrosial hair.
The sobbing pathos of despair:
We seem to see her garments rent,
And ashes in ambrosial hair.
Clouds gather, where the mystic Nile,
Seven-headed, stains the ambient deep.
The chidden sun forgets to smile,
Where lilies on lake Moeris sleep.
Seven-headed, stains the ambient deep.
The chidden sun forgets to smile,
Where lilies on lake Moeris sleep.
386
Slumber and Silence cloud the face
Of Isis in gold-ivory shrine:
And Silence seems to reach the race,
Whose youth was more than half divine.
Of Isis in gold-ivory shrine:
And Silence seems to reach the race,
Whose youth was more than half divine.
'Tis gone—The chords no longer glow:
The Bards of Greece forget to sing;
Their hands are numb, their hearts are slow:
Their numbers creep without a wing.
The Bards of Greece forget to sing;
Their hands are numb, their hearts are slow:
Their numbers creep without a wing.
Their ebbing Helicons refuse
The droplet of a droughty tide.
The fleeting footsteps of the Muse
We follow to the Tiber side.
The droplet of a droughty tide.
The fleeting footsteps of the Muse
We follow to the Tiber side.
The Dorian Muse with Cypris ends:
With Cypris wakes the Latian lyre:
And, sternly sweet, Lucretius blends
Her praise inspired with epic fire.
With Cypris wakes the Latian lyre:
And, sternly sweet, Lucretius blends
Her praise inspired with epic fire.
To thee, my Memmius, amply swells
Rich prelude to her genial power,
Her world-renewing force, which dwells
In man, herd, insect, fish, or flower.
Rich prelude to her genial power,
Her world-renewing force, which dwells
In man, herd, insect, fish, or flower.
Supremely fair, serenely sweet,
The wondering waves beheld her birth,
The power, whose regal pulses beat
Thro' every fibre of the earth.
The wondering waves beheld her birth,
The power, whose regal pulses beat
Thro' every fibre of the earth.
Why should we tax the gods with woe,
They sit outside, they bear no part?
They never wove the rainbow's glow,
They never built the human heart.
They sit outside, they bear no part?
They never wove the rainbow's glow,
They never built the human heart.
These careless idlers who can blame?
If Chance and Nature govern men:
The universe from atoms came,
And back to atoms rolls again.
If Chance and Nature govern men:
The universe from atoms came,
And back to atoms rolls again.
As earthly kings they keep their state,
The cup of joy is in their hands;
The war-note deepens at their gate,
They hear a wail of hungry lands.
The cup of joy is in their hands;
The war-note deepens at their gate,
They hear a wail of hungry lands.
387
They feast, they let the turmoil drive,
And Nature scorns their fleeting sway:
She ruled before they were alive,
She rules when they are passed away.
And Nature scorns their fleeting sway:
She ruled before they were alive,
She rules when they are passed away.
Before the poet's wistful face
The flaming walls of ether glow:
He sees the lurid brinks of Space,
Nor trembles at the gulfs below.
The flaming walls of ether glow:
He sees the lurid brinks of Space,
Nor trembles at the gulfs below.
He feels himself a foundering bark,
Tossed on the tides of Time alone.
Blindly he rushes on the dark,
Nor waits his summons to be gone.
Tossed on the tides of Time alone.
Blindly he rushes on the dark,
Nor waits his summons to be gone.
Wake, mighty Virgil, nor refuse
Some glimpses of thy laurelled face:
Sound westward, wise Ausonian Muse,
The epic of a martial race.
Some glimpses of thy laurelled face:
Sound westward, wise Ausonian Muse,
The epic of a martial race.
Grim warriors, whom the wolf-dug rears,
Strong legions, patient, steadfast, brave,
Who meet the shock of hostile spears,
As sea-walls meet the trivial wave.
Strong legions, patient, steadfast, brave,
Who meet the shock of hostile spears,
As sea-walls meet the trivial wave.
Justice and Peace their highest good,
By sacred law they held their sway,
The ruler's instinct in their blood
Taught them to govern and obey.
By sacred law they held their sway,
The ruler's instinct in their blood
Taught them to govern and obey.
They crushed the proud, the weak they spared,
They loosed the prostrate captive's chain:
And civic rights and birthright shared
Made him respect their equal reign.
They loosed the prostrate captive's chain:
And civic rights and birthright shared
Made him respect their equal reign.
They grappled in their nervous hands
The nations as a lump of dough:
To Calpe came their gleaming bands,
To Ister grinding reefs of snow.
The nations as a lump of dough:
To Calpe came their gleaming bands,
To Ister grinding reefs of snow.
And where the reedy Mincius rolled
By Manto's marsh the crystal swan,
There Maro smote his harp of gold,
And on the chords fierce glory shone.
By Manto's marsh the crystal swan,
There Maro smote his harp of gold,
And on the chords fierce glory shone.
388
The crested metre clomb and fell;
The sounding word, the burnished phrase
Rocked on like ocean's tidal swell,
With sunbeam on the water-ways.
The sounding word, the burnished phrase
Rocked on like ocean's tidal swell,
With sunbeam on the water-ways.
He sang the armoured man of fate,
The father of eternal Rome,
The great begetter of the great,
Who piled the empire yet to come.
The father of eternal Rome,
The great begetter of the great,
Who piled the empire yet to come.
He sang of Daphnis, rapt to heaven,
At threshold of Olympian doors,
Who sees below the cloud rack driven,
And wonders at the gleaming floors.
At threshold of Olympian doors,
Who sees below the cloud rack driven,
And wonders at the gleaming floors.
He sang the babe, whose wondrous birth,
By Cumæ's sibyl long foretold,
Should rule a renovated earth,
An empire and an age of gold.
By Cumæ's sibyl long foretold,
Should rule a renovated earth,
An empire and an age of gold.
He sang great Gallus wrapt in woe,
When sweet Lycoris dared depart
To follow in the Rhineland snow
The soldier of her fickle heart.
When sweet Lycoris dared depart
To follow in the Rhineland snow
The soldier of her fickle heart.
The nectared lips that sang are mute,
And dust the pale Virgilian brows,
And dust the wonder of the lute,
And dust around the charnel-house.
And dust the pale Virgilian brows,
And dust the wonder of the lute,
And dust around the charnel-house.
Above the aloes spiring tall,
Among the oleander's bloom,
Urned in a craggy mountain hall,
The peasant points to Virgil's tomb.
Among the oleander's bloom,
Urned in a craggy mountain hall,
The peasant points to Virgil's tomb.
The empire, which oppressed the world,
Has vanished like a bead of foam;
And down the rugged Goths have hurled
The slender roseleaf sons of Rome.
Has vanished like a bead of foam;
And down the rugged Goths have hurled
The slender roseleaf sons of Rome.
For ages in some northern cave
The plaintive Muse of herdsmen slept,
Till, waking by the Cam's wise wave.
Once more her Lycid lost she wept.
The plaintive Muse of herdsmen slept,
Till, waking by the Cam's wise wave.
Once more her Lycid lost she wept.
389
As pilgrims to thy realm of death,
Great Maro, we are humbly come,
To breathe one hour thy native breath,
To scan the lordly wreck of Rome.
Great Maro, we are humbly come,
To breathe one hour thy native breath,
To scan the lordly wreck of Rome.
And, tho' thy Muses all are fled
To some uncouth Teutonic town,
Sleep, minstrel of the mighty dead,
Sleep in the fields of thy renown.
To some uncouth Teutonic town,
Sleep, minstrel of the mighty dead,
Sleep in the fields of thy renown.
| The Collected Poems of Lord De Tabley | |