Orpheus And Other Poems

Sweeter voice may ne'er dissemble Love that ever doth repine. Still those notes from sweet lips falling Promise happiness to be, Calling, calling, ever calling To those isles amid the sea. WHEN BACCHUS CAME The world was new and all the gods Were mad with youth and love, And Titans trembled at the nods Of heaven-defying Jove. Then were the halcyon days of old Of which the ancient poets told. Then Dryads swarmed in every grove. Then every crystal pool, Whose whispering reeds and rushes wove A bower fresh and cool, Showed far beneath its mirrored face Some shimmering Naiad's dwelling place. In meads where nodding flowers move, The murmurous bees intone The drowsy litany of love, More dulcet than their own Most fragrant treasure, when it swells The waxen semilucent cells. The flowering almond's avalanche Of blossoms pink and white Sends many a downward curving branch O'er hidden bowers bright, Wherefrom, with innate coquetry, Blithe Nymphs set fluttering glances free. And round about, the jocund sound Of piping and of song Comes from each velvet-swarded mound Where Nymphs and Satyrs throng. While twining arms and twinkling feet, And willowy forms make grace complete. Far in a vale, where tumbled hills Skirt the Boeotian plain, The last outlying sentinels Of great Parnassus' train, Behold, a vision of delight! A maid in spring-time jewels dight. On dewy rose and violet ...