The year of shame by William Watson With an introduction by the Bishop of Hereford |
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| XXII. | XXII ON A CERTAIN EUROPEAN ALLIANCE |
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 | The year of shame by William Watson |  |
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XXII
ON A CERTAIN EUROPEAN ALLIANCE
The Hercules of nations, shaggy-browed,
Enormous-limbed, supreme on Steppe and plain
Dwelt without consort, in his narrow brain
Nursing wide dreams he might not dream aloud;
Till him the radiant western Venus vowed
(So strange is love!) she pined for: and these twain
Were wedded—Neptune, with his nereidtrain,
Gracing the pageant of their nuptials proud.
Enormous-limbed, supreme on Steppe and plain
Dwelt without consort, in his narrow brain
Nursing wide dreams he might not dream aloud;
Till him the radiant western Venus vowed
(So strange is love!) she pined for: and these twain
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Gracing the pageant of their nuptials proud.
Perfect in amorous arts, through eyes and ears
She fans her giant's not too fierce desire.
“How long, O Venus? What impassioned years,
What ages of such rapture, ere thou tire?”
Thus the lewd gods: thus Mars and all his peers,
Gazing profane, at fault 'twixt mirth and ire.
She fans her giant's not too fierce desire.
“How long, O Venus? What impassioned years,
What ages of such rapture, ere thou tire?”
Thus the lewd gods: thus Mars and all his peers,
Gazing profane, at fault 'twixt mirth and ire.
| The year of shame by William Watson | |