 | The Collected Poems of Lord De Tabley |  |
A LAMENT FOR ADONIS
We will lament the beautiful Adonis!
The sleepy clouds are lull'd in all their trails.
The river-beds are weary for the rain.
The branchy volumes of the clouded pines,
Like drooping banners, in excess of noon
Languish beneath the forehead of the sun:
Nor dares one gale to breathe, one ivy-leaf
To flicker on its strings about the boles.
The sleepy clouds are lull'd in all their trails.
The river-beds are weary for the rain.
The branchy volumes of the clouded pines,
Like drooping banners, in excess of noon
Languish beneath the forehead of the sun:
Nor dares one gale to breathe, one ivy-leaf
To flicker on its strings about the boles.
Lament Adonis here in dead-ripe noon;
Weep for her weeping, Queen of love and dream,
Disconsolate, love's ruler love-bereaved:
Where is thy godhead fallen, what avail
To throne it on the clouds yet lose thy joy?
Couldst thou not hold Adonis on thy lips
Eternally, and scorn the ebbing years?
This, this were meed of immortality,
To wear thy stately love secure and fair
Of rainy eyes: now shalt thou ne'er resume,
Enamoured Queen, thy shelter at his heart:
His arms no longer Aphroditè's nest.
Weep for her weeping, Queen of love and dream,
Disconsolate, love's ruler love-bereaved:
Where is thy godhead fallen, what avail
To throne it on the clouds yet lose thy joy?
Couldst thou not hold Adonis on thy lips
Eternally, and scorn the ebbing years?
This, this were meed of immortality,
To wear thy stately love secure and fair
Of rainy eyes: now shalt thou ne'er resume,
Enamoured Queen, thy shelter at his heart:
His arms no longer Aphroditè's nest.
Kneel then, and weep with her and weep with her.
It is not meet that pure cheek's crimsoning,
It is not fate those bloom-ripe limbs endure
The stain of thick corruption and the rule
Of common natures. Queen, possess thy power,
Raise him beyond the region of the sun;
There cherish back the heavy eyes to blend
With that full morning of the ageless gods:
Watch him to life in bloomy asphodel,
Dissolve thy soul on his reviving lips.
It is not meet that pure cheek's crimsoning,
It is not fate those bloom-ripe limbs endure
The stain of thick corruption and the rule
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Raise him beyond the region of the sun;
There cherish back the heavy eyes to blend
With that full morning of the ageless gods:
Watch him to life in bloomy asphodel,
Dissolve thy soul on his reviving lips.
In vain, 'tis idle dreaming this shall be.
In vain, ye maidens, this our sister toil
To scatter posies on his patient sleep
With dole for him that was so beautiful:
He shall not wake from that Lethean dream:
He shall not move for her immortal smile,
Nor hear the busy kisses at his cheek:
She ceases and she sobs upon her hands:
Come, let us weep with her and weep with her.
In vain, ye maidens, this our sister toil
To scatter posies on his patient sleep
With dole for him that was so beautiful:
He shall not wake from that Lethean dream:
He shall not move for her immortal smile,
Nor hear the busy kisses at his cheek:
She ceases and she sobs upon her hands:
Come, let us weep with her and weep with her.
Smother his head with roses as he lies.
The day may draw the sacred twilight down:
The dew lights on the grasses and the leaves
May speck the woods, as night the sky, with stars;
The sun-down gale shall not, because we weep,
Forego her perfume, or night's bird her song.
Nature is greater than the grief of gods,
And Pan prevails, while dynasties in heaven
Rule out their little eons and resign
The thunder and the throne to younger hands.
He is the rock and these the rounding waves.
The day may draw the sacred twilight down:
The dew lights on the grasses and the leaves
May speck the woods, as night the sky, with stars;
The sun-down gale shall not, because we weep,
Forego her perfume, or night's bird her song.
Nature is greater than the grief of gods,
And Pan prevails, while dynasties in heaven
Rule out their little eons and resign
The thunder and the throne to younger hands.
He is the rock and these the rounding waves.
Lament not, Queen of love, lament no more:
Nature and Love alone are ageless powers;
Thy queendom, Aphroditè, shall not fail.
The reign of might shall fail, the wisdom fail
That wrought out heavenly thrones: the weary clouds
Shall not sustain them longer: only Love
And Nature are immortal. Nature sealed
Adonis' eyes: the kindly hand forgave
The creeping years that held Tithonus old
Before her eyes who loved and saw him fade.
Nature and Love alone are ageless powers;
Thy queendom, Aphroditè, shall not fail.
The reign of might shall fail, the wisdom fail
That wrought out heavenly thrones: the weary clouds
Shall not sustain them longer: only Love
And Nature are immortal. Nature sealed
Adonis' eyes: the kindly hand forgave
The creeping years that held Tithonus old
Before her eyes who loved and saw him fade.
Have comfort; and our homeward choir shall hymn
Thy godhead thro' the cedarn labyrinths,
Till they emerge upon the flushing sheet
Of sunset: on those waters many an isle
And cape and sacred foreland ripe with eve,
Cherish thy myrtle in delicious groves:
Infinite worship at this hour is thine.
They name thee Aphroditè, and the name
Blends with the incense towards the crimson cloud.
Thy godhead thro' the cedarn labyrinths,
Till they emerge upon the flushing sheet
Of sunset: on those waters many an isle
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Cherish thy myrtle in delicious groves:
Infinite worship at this hour is thine.
They name thee Aphroditè, and the name
Blends with the incense towards the crimson cloud.
| The Collected Poems of Lord De Tabley | |