| Henry Wadsworth Longfellow (1807–1882). Complete Poetical Works. 1893. | | | | The Masque of Pandora | | IV. The Air |
| | HERMES (returning to Olympus). AS lonely as the tower that he inhabits, | |
| As firm and cold as are the crags about him, | |
| Prometheus stands. The thunderbolts of Zeus | |
| Alone can move him; but the tender heart | |
| Of Epimetheus, burning at white heat, | 5 |
| Hammers and flames like all his brother’s forges! | |
| Now as an arrow from Hyperion’s bow, | |
| My errand done, I fly, I float, I soar | |
| Into the air, returning to Olympus. | |
| O joy of motion! O delight to cleave | 10 |
| The infinite realms of space, the liquid ether, | |
| Through the warm sunshine and the cooling cloud, | |
| Myself as light as sunbeam or as cloud! | |
| With one touch of my swift and wingèd feet, | |
| I spurn the solid earth, and leave it rocking | 15 |
| As rocks the bough from which a bird takes wing. | | | | |
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