![]() | The Poetical Works of Aubrey De Vere | ![]() |
ZOE, AN ATHENIAN CHILD.
1
Blue eyes, but of so dark a blueThat sadder souls than mine
Find nought but night beneath their dew,
Such locks as Proserpine
Around her shadowy forehead wears,
Made smoother by Elysian airs,
And lips whose song spontaneous swells
Like airs from Ocean's moonlit shells—
These, lovely child! are thine;
And that forlorn yet radiant grace
That best becomes thy name and race!
2
A forehead orbed into the light;Pure temples marbled round
63
More white thus dimly wound,
And taper fingers, hands self-folded,
Like shapes of alabaster moulded,
And cheek whose blushes are as those
Aurora cools on Pindan snows
Ere night is yet discrowned—
Not brighter, clad in Fancy's hues,
Or seen in dream—an Infant Muse!
3
O fetch her from yon Naxian gladeOne chaplet of the Bacchic vine
Or glimmering ivy-wreath yet sprayed
With dews that taste like wine!
She loves to pace the wild sea shore—
O drop her wandering fingers o'er
The bosom of some chorded shell:
Her touch will make it speak as well
As infant Hermes made
That tortoise, in its own despite
Thenceforth in Heaven a shape star-bright!
![]() | The Poetical Works of Aubrey De Vere | ![]() |