Page:Hephaestus, Persephone at Enna, and Sappho in Leucadia.djvu/24

 This wayward heart, till I in wonder saw From those dark weeds of wanton lust creep forth Belated violets of calmer love,— And, link by link, found all my life enchained!

Only at times the music of the Sea Sang in my ears its old insistent note; Only at times I heard the wash and rush Of waves on open shores and windy cliffs; Only at times I seemed to see great wings Scaling some crystal stairway to the Sun, And languid eagles shouldering languid clouds. Singing on summer mornings too I heard,— I caught the sound that sweet green waters make, The music—O so delicate!—of leaves And rustling grasses, and the stir of wings About dim gardens. Where shy nightingales Shook their old sorrow over Ida’s gloom I into immortality was touched Once more by song and moonlight, far away. I mused beside dim fires with Memory And through my tears rebuilt some better life Untouched of time and change, and dreaming thus Forgot my woe, and, first of all the gods, I, wistful-eyed, with Aspiration walked!

For, Mother, see, this dubious death in life Makes beautiful my immortality: Once all my world was only phantom stream