University of Virginia Library

“Thy words ring true
And tuned on tender chords, Tiresias!
But the dread Goddess, is Her charge forgot?
Not lightly will She pardon shouldst thou fail
In reverent concord with Her will divine.
Thine own bow in obedience, nor allow
Winged hopes to hover where they may not rest;
For Gods despise the foolish tears of men
Born of unchecked desire. No, let the vain
Hither and thither gad a senseless dance,
Their course of no more count than wind-borne leaves.
Exalted, thou shalt know the living truth
Athena signified, and sun thy soul
In ever-varying beauty born of law
That love, wing-folded from pursuit, adores.
It is not thine to toil and herd with men,
Who fondly trust they track their purposes,
But are blind shuttles in the loom of Fate,
Each working out his doom. Thy deathless glance
Of Pallas great Athena's very self,
Enwrapt thee Her's in worship evermore:
For having seen perfection in pure light,
No earthly memory can seem to thee
Other than darkness shown by glimmering rays,
Or form unfashioned yet to comely shape.
Thy mortal loss being thus immortal gain,
Saved art thou now the dolour and despair
Of seeing wounds thou lackest skill to heal;
Or tottering blindness that will not be led;
And, breathing air attempered to response,
The voices of the high Olympian Gods
Shall sanction thine in music with Their own.”