DACTYLIC HEXAMETER.
I. Heroic.
Bard of the bright Chian isle, from snow-crowned Olympus descending,
Come to my spirit at night, thy own full ecstasy lending:
Bear me away through thy world, still with youth's first energy glowing;
Still with the great and the fair in wide effusion o'erflowing.
Other creations may fade, to shapeless ruin decaying:
Over the world of thy song, youth's earliest dawn is still playing.
Long the tall turrets of Troy have perished, by centuries riven,—
Still at thy bidding they rise, untouched and immortal, to heaven.
Still rise her sons in their might, dark plumes o'er their helmets wide waving,—
Armed for their altars and homes, the god and the warrior braving.
Hector still burns in the fight, awhile the wild torrent controlling;
Then, like the thunderer's, in wrath, the car of Achilles is rolling.
Ever new forms, at thy touch, to life and to beauty are starting;—
Helen still wins with her smile; Andromache trembles at parting;
Lone sits the hero apart, by the shore of the sea wide resounding;
Light o'er the high purple wave the fair-freighted vessel is bounding.
Still through the darkness of night the grief-stricken monarch is stealing,
Falls at the feet of his foe, and melts him to tenderest feeling.
Nature! thy power is supreme; no proud-hearted victor can sway thee;
When thy soft whisper is heard, the strong and the mighty obey thee.
[II. Deep, 'mid the shades of night, I sink in silent repose]
Deep, 'mid the shades of night, I sink in silent repose;
Pressed by the soft touch of sleep, my lids on the outer world close;
But to the eye of my soul a fairer vision unfolds,
That, with a charm of delight, my spirit long wondering holds.
There are the bright forms of youth, creations too lovely to stay:
Ever they come in my dreams,—I wake, and they hasten away.
Over my pillow they hover, as clouds o'er the far golden west,
When, in the soft-heaving wave, Day sinks to the couch of his rest.
There rise, in beauty, the shapes that gladdened in earliest time,
Where spread the lily and rose, full-bloomed, in Ionia's clime:
Nymphs, too, of forest and grove, of fountain and blue-rolling deep,
Still, with their dark-beaming eyes, fond watch o'er the slumberer keep.
Still, from the high walls of heaven, the gods in their glory descend;
Still, to the bold-bearing youth, their power and their spirit they lend;
Still, o'er the dark-rolling clouds, triumphant they ride in their cars;
Still, from victorious death, the demigod mounts to the stars.
Eldest and highest of bards! thy song, with its music divine,
Rolls through this magical world, my spirit has raised for its shrine.
Still, as when first from thy lyre its tones in harmony stole,
Breathes, through the silence of night, its influence deep in my soul.
[III. Still, as in youth, ever green, the laurel of Homer is flourishing]
Still, as in youth, ever green, the laurel of Homer is flourishing;
Life-giving streams bathe its roots, its wide-waving foliage nourishing:
Light, from the ever-bright throne, still over its summit is hovering,
Blossom and leaf, as they wave, still with heavenly radiance covering.
And, as I look to its sky-piercing summit, an eagle has taken me,
Bears me aloft, where the blasts from Olympus to keener life waken me.
Hail to the herald, whose cloud-cleaving pinion from earth can deliver me!
Nothing below from the high train of bards and of heroes shall sever me.
[IV. Herald of earliest dawn! at thy smile the blue waters are stirring again]
Herald of earliest dawn! at thy smile the blue waters are stirring again:
Wide the sea wakes from its sleep, as thy bright eye enkindles the sky and the main.
As the wind flutters thy locks, and plays with the folds of thy many-dyed veil,
Boldly we launch on the deep, and deck with thy purple the snow of our sail.
Earth then gives tokens of life, and again, as a giant refreshed with repose,
Youthfully starts from its dreams, and its cheeks are all flushed with the bloom of the rose.
Phosphor leads on thy bright train, and waves his clear torch, as the night steals away;
Then come the light-footed hours, and with soft hands unfold the fair portals of day:
Forth on thy rose-wreathen car, thou rollest 'mid billows of saffron and gold;
Loves, on their thin iris wings, the red-streaming mists, as thy canopy, hold.
Gracefully ever at morn, thy car thus aloft o'er the mountain is borne;
And as thou comest, the woods ring aloud with the clang of the welcoming horn.
