 | The Poetical Works of Aubrey De Vere |  |
67
VII. ÆSCHYLUS.
A sea-cliff carved into a bas-relief!Dark thoughts and sad, conceived by brooding Nature;
Brought forth in storm:—dread shapes of Titan stature,
Emblems of Fate, and Change, Revenge, and Grief,
And Death, and Life:—a caverned Hieroglyph
Confronting still with thunder-blasted frieze
All stress of years, and winds, and wasting seas:—
The stranger nears it in his fragile skiff
And hides his eyes. Few, few shall pass, great Bard,
Thy dim sea-portals! Entering, fewer yet
Shall pierce thy mystic meanings, deep and hard:
But these shall owe to thee an endless debt:
The Eleusinian caverns they shall tread
That wind beneath man's heart; and wisdom learn with dread.
| The Poetical Works of Aubrey De Vere | |