 | Tiresias |  |
“‘Hail my Tiresias, to the Gods endeared!
Thy thoughts wing happily an even pace,
And happily alight to muse their gains.
Thy swift exultant march cut off and balked
By sheer impossibility,
Thou didst not dash thy breast against the wall,
And bruised and bleeding, clamour unto Gods
For aid to break the laws themselves obey;
But meek, submissive, paid'st thy forfeiture
Without rebellious questioning, or hope
The will of Gods might change for thy behoof.
Thus, tho' perforce a rugged path is thine,
Thy quickened sense shall be to thee a staff
To guide thee on thy way: for thou shalt feel
The wandering air, checked by the rocks and trees,
Beat backward on thy face; and steadfastly
Threading obstructions, as a bird in flight,
Pursue thy needs in safety as before.
Thy thoughts wing happily an even pace,
And happily alight to muse their gains.
Thy swift exultant march cut off and balked
By sheer impossibility,
Thou didst not dash thy breast against the wall,
And bruised and bleeding, clamour unto Gods
For aid to break the laws themselves obey;
But meek, submissive, paid'st thy forfeiture
Without rebellious questioning, or hope
The will of Gods might change for thy behoof.
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Thy quickened sense shall be to thee a staff
To guide thee on thy way: for thou shalt feel
The wandering air, checked by the rocks and trees,
Beat backward on thy face; and steadfastly
Threading obstructions, as a bird in flight,
Pursue thy needs in safety as before.
“ ‘When silvery dawn warms into golden day
And hearts of men are glad, the feathered world
In voices infinite salute the morn;
And stooping their horned brows the cattle graze
With faces toward the sun; their manes asweep,
Horses while thundering over plains proclaim
Their joy aloud in stormy clarion shouts;
While flocks at feed upon the happy hills,
Pause at short intervals to bleat delight;
And all awakened glow in life renewed
From dark unfeeling night. And thou shalt wake
From gloom to living glory; truth on truth
Unfolding lovely secrets to thy love,
Shall breathe their rarest sweetnesses unsought;
When thou shalt learn that loveliness in flowers
Is one with women and their gracious smiles;
And crawling eyeless worms that feed on clay
Own life identical with scornful man;
And woodland berries, fed on earth and air,
And every drop of dew that weights the grass
Is fashioned by the force that moulds the stars.
And hearts of men are glad, the feathered world
In voices infinite salute the morn;
And stooping their horned brows the cattle graze
With faces toward the sun; their manes asweep,
Horses while thundering over plains proclaim
Their joy aloud in stormy clarion shouts;
While flocks at feed upon the happy hills,
Pause at short intervals to bleat delight;
And all awakened glow in life renewed
From dark unfeeling night. And thou shalt wake
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Unfolding lovely secrets to thy love,
Shall breathe their rarest sweetnesses unsought;
When thou shalt learn that loveliness in flowers
Is one with women and their gracious smiles;
And crawling eyeless worms that feed on clay
Own life identical with scornful man;
And woodland berries, fed on earth and air,
And every drop of dew that weights the grass
Is fashioned by the force that moulds the stars.
“ ‘Clear to the wise, but hidden from the dull,
All life unites inspired by harmony,
From inborn essence to the outward hue;
And life, tho' ever-varying, onward moves
From earth thro' herbage and becomes the brute:
Thus men from earth divine the laws of heaven,
And seek by day the stars in deepest wells,
Tho' oft, by noon-sun dazzled, blind to flowers
In constellations shining at their feet!
All life unites inspired by harmony,
From inborn essence to the outward hue;
And life, tho' ever-varying, onward moves
From earth thro' herbage and becomes the brute:
Thus men from earth divine the laws of heaven,
And seek by day the stars in deepest wells,
Tho' oft, by noon-sun dazzled, blind to flowers
In constellations shining at their feet!
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“ ‘Thy soul responsive to their warbling tongues
Thou hear'st the stories little songsters tell
On thorns bloom-smothered in the odorous spring,
And read'st their merry-making poured aloof
In veiled security of loftiest leaves,
Or quivering upward singing into light.
Their witchery cast upon thy loosened lips
Shall tell in singing what was caught of songs
Tuned deep in woodland shade, or windy banks,
Or fields of spacious air. As now thine eyes
Are closed to every being of thy love,
Thou now art granted vision, grace divine
To penetrate and know each dark recess,
From subtle motives to their plain escape
In action issuing to remotest time.
And men shall be thy friends, in knowing thou
Can'st rightly scan what unto most will seem
An untold message or a senseless vaunt.
Thy sway shall be as kings'. Wise men shall take
Direction from thy maxims, proven and found
Trusty upon the strain, and furtherance
To purposes that strike and flower in deeds.
For thou, undoubting, undismayed, shalt know
The will of Gods, and speak the voice of Fate;
Resistless Fate for ever following fast
On any trodden pathway, foul or fair!
Thou hear'st the stories little songsters tell
On thorns bloom-smothered in the odorous spring,
And read'st their merry-making poured aloof
In veiled security of loftiest leaves,
Or quivering upward singing into light.
Their witchery cast upon thy loosened lips
Shall tell in singing what was caught of songs
Tuned deep in woodland shade, or windy banks,
Or fields of spacious air. As now thine eyes
Are closed to every being of thy love,
Thou now art granted vision, grace divine
To penetrate and know each dark recess,
From subtle motives to their plain escape
In action issuing to remotest time.
And men shall be thy friends, in knowing thou
Can'st rightly scan what unto most will seem
An untold message or a senseless vaunt.
Thy sway shall be as kings'. Wise men shall take
Direction from thy maxims, proven and found
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To purposes that strike and flower in deeds.
For thou, undoubting, undismayed, shalt know
The will of Gods, and speak the voice of Fate;
Resistless Fate for ever following fast
On any trodden pathway, foul or fair!
“ ‘But many a harvest moon shall light the land,
And many a season will release its showers,
And gather night in midday thunderstorms,
Ere men will give a welcome to thy words;
For, as at peril, will they start, and shun
The plainest blessing pregnant with delight,
When seen in guise unknown to them before.
And many a season will release its showers,
And gather night in midday thunderstorms,
Ere men will give a welcome to thy words;
For, as at peril, will they start, and shun
The plainest blessing pregnant with delight,
When seen in guise unknown to them before.
But meantime can'st thou loiter while the grass
Plays to the pleasant singing of the rain;
And join in laughter when tempestuous fire
Rioting shatters throughout iron skies
In far redoubled roars that shake the world,
And rends an azure emptiness in space.
Plays to the pleasant singing of the rain;
And join in laughter when tempestuous fire
Rioting shatters throughout iron skies
In far redoubled roars that shake the world,
And rends an azure emptiness in space.
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Flower-laden winds shall breathe and whisper thee
If over primroses or violets borne,
Or deeply-blushing roses sore ashamed,
To languish zephyr-plundered of their sweets.
Softly, with babbling lips, these winds shall lisp
Of timorous lovers glimmering in the dawn,
And sighing for noontide's unattainable
Delight of brightest heaven. Or they shall tell
Of streams, where golden-hearted lotus flowers
Shed spectral light beneath the gloom of plams;
Where dusky women launch their babes to float,
Then in the water flashing breast the flow;
Or bring dark hints of contest from afar
Where numbers meet in fell resolve to smite
Each unknown other into senseless death.
If over primroses or violets borne,
Or deeply-blushing roses sore ashamed,
To languish zephyr-plundered of their sweets.
Softly, with babbling lips, these winds shall lisp
Of timorous lovers glimmering in the dawn,
And sighing for noontide's unattainable
Delight of brightest heaven. Or they shall tell
Of streams, where golden-hearted lotus flowers
Shed spectral light beneath the gloom of plams;
Where dusky women launch their babes to float,
Then in the water flashing breast the flow;
Or bring dark hints of contest from afar
Where numbers meet in fell resolve to smite
Each unknown other into senseless death.
“ ‘And thus in beauty hallowed safe art thou
From cares that poison gladness with distrust,
And doubts of danger that may never rise:
But open, unobstructed, as the flow
Of mighty rivers, will thy seasons glide,
That wind by many a reach of flowery mead
To find like others their great ocean home.’
From cares that poison gladness with distrust,
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But open, unobstructed, as the flow
Of mighty rivers, will thy seasons glide,
That wind by many a reach of flowery mead
To find like others their great ocean home.’
| Tiresias | |