FREE BOOKS

Author's List




PREV.   NEXT  
|<   5   6   7   8   9   10   11   12   13   14   15   16   17   18   19   20   21   22   >>  
death into a night Of glorious dreams--or if eyes needs must weep, _180 Could make their tears all wonder and delight, She in her crystal vials did closely keep: If men could drink of those clear vials, 'tis said The living were not envied of the dead. 18. Her cave was stored with scrolls of strange device, _185 The works of some Saturnian Archimage, Which taught the expiations at whose price Men from the Gods might win that happy age Too lightly lost, redeeming native vice; And which might quench the Earth-consuming rage _190 Of gold and blood--till men should live and move Harmonious as the sacred stars above; 19. And how all things that seem untameable, Not to be checked and not to be confined, Obey the spells of Wisdom's wizard skill; _195 Time, earth, and fire--the ocean and the wind, And all their shapes--and man's imperial will; And other scrolls whose writings did unbind The inmost lore of Love--let the profane Tremble to ask what secrets they contain. _200 20. And wondrous works of substances unknown, To which the enchantment of her father's power Had changed those ragged blocks of savage stone, Were heaped in the recesses of her bower; Carved lamps and chalices, and vials which shone _205 In their own golden beams--each like a flower, Out of whose depth a fire-fly shakes his light Under a cypress in a starless night. 21. At first she lived alone in this wild home, And her own thoughts were each a minister, _210 Clothing themselves, or with the ocean foam, Or with the wind, or with the speed of fire, To work whatever purposes might come Into her mind; such power her mighty Sire Had girt them with, whether to fly or run, _215 Through all the regions which he shines upon. 22. The Ocean-nymphs and Hamadryades, Oreads and Naiads, with long weedy locks, Offered to do her bidding through the seas, Under the earth, and in the hollow rocks, _220 And far beneath the matted roots of trees, And in the gnarled heart of stubborn oaks, So they might live for ever in the light Of her sweet presence--each a satellite. 23. 'This may not be,' the wizard maid replied; _225 'The fountains where the Naiades bedew Their shining hair, at length are drained and dried; The solid oaks for
PREV.   NEXT  
|<   5   6   7   8   9   10   11   12   13   14   15   16   17   18   19   20   21   22   >>  



Top keywords:
wizard
 

scrolls

 

purposes

 

minister

 
thoughts
 
Clothing
 

chalices

 
golden
 

Carved

 

heaped


recesses

 

starless

 
cypress
 

flower

 
shakes
 
presence
 

satellite

 

matted

 
gnarled
 

stubborn


replied

 

length

 

drained

 
shining
 

fountains

 
Naiades
 

beneath

 

regions

 

shines

 

Through


mighty

 

nymphs

 
Hamadryades
 

bidding

 

hollow

 

Offered

 
Naiads
 
Oreads
 

Saturnian

 

Archimage


taught

 

device

 

strange

 

stored

 
expiations
 

lightly

 
redeeming
 

native

 
envied
 

glorious