| |
| VAINLY were the words of parting spoken; | |
| Evermore must Charon turn from me. | |
| Still my thread of life remains unbroken, | |
| And unbroken it must ever be! | |
| Only they may rest | 5 |
| Whom the Fates’ behest | |
| From their mortal mansion setteth free. | |
| |
| I have seen the robes of Hermes glisten— | |
| Seen him wave afar his serpent wand; | |
| But to me the Herald would not listen | 10 |
| When the dead swept by at his command. | |
| Not with that pale crew | |
| Durst I venture too: | |
| Ever shut for me the quiet land! | |
| |
| Day and night before the dreary portal | 15 |
| Phantom shapes, the guards of Hades, lie: | |
| None of heavenly kind, nor yet of mortal, | |
| May unchallenged pass the warders by. | |
| None that path may go | |
| If he cannot show | 20 |
| His last passport to eternity. | |
| |
| Cruel was the spirit-power thou gavest! | |
| Fatal, O Apollo, was thy love! | |
| Pythian, Archer, brightest God and bravest, | |
| Hear, O hear me from thy throne above! | 25 |
| Let me not, I pray, | |
| Thus be cast away: | |
| Plead for me, thy slave—O plead to Jove! | |
| |
| I have heard thee with the Muses singing— | |
| Heard that full melodious voice of thine | 30 |
| Silver-clear throughout the ether ringing— | |
| Seen thy locks in golden clusters shine: | |
| And thine eye, so bright | |
| With its innate light, | |
| Hath ere now been bent so low as mine. | 35 |
| |
| Hast thou lost the wish, the will, to cherish | |
| Those who trusted in thy godlike power? | |
| Hyacinthus did not wholly perish! | |
| Still he lives the firstling of thy bower: | |
| Still he feels thy rays, | 40 |
| Fondly meets thy gaze, | |
| Tho’ but now the spirit of a flower. | |
| |
