University of Virginia Library


85

THE KRONIAN GODS.

Aye keeping their eternal track,
The Deities of old
Went to and fro, and there and back,
In boats of starry gold.
For ever true, they cycled round
The Heavens, sink or climb;
To boundless dark a radiant bound,
And, to the timeless, Time:
Till mortals looking forth in death
Across the deluge dark,
Besought the Gods to save their breath
In Light's Celestial Ark.
To the revolving Stars they prayed,
While sinking back to Earth;
“In passing through the world of Shade,
Oh, give us thy re-birth!”
And ever a Sun beyond the Sun
Quickened the human root
With longings after life, that run
And spring with heavenward shoot.
Their yearnings kindled such a light
Within them, so divine,
That Death encompassed them with night,
To show the starrier shine.