Page:House of Atreus 2nd ed (1889).djvu/120

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On the life-giving lap of Earth

Blood hath flowed forth;

And now, the seed of vengeance, clots the plain—

Unmelting, uneffaced the stain.

And Até tarries long, but at the last

The sinner's heart is cast

Into pervading, waxing pangs of pain.

Lo, when man's force doth ope

The virgin doors, there is nor cure nor hope

For what is lost,—even so, I deem,

Though in one channel ran Earth's every stream,

Laving the hand defiled from murder's stain,

It were in vain.

And upon me—ah me!—the gods have laid

The woe that wrapped round Troy,

What time they led me down from home and kin

Unto a slave's employ—

The doom to bow the head

And watch our master's will

Work deeds of good and ill—

To see the headlong sway of force and sin,

And hold restrained the spirit's bitter hate,

Wailing the monarch's fruitless fate,

Hiding my face within my robe, and fain

Of tears, and chilled with frost of hidden pain.

Handmaidens, orderers of the palace-halls,

Since at my side ye come, a suppliant train,

Companions of this offering, counsel me

As best befits the time: for I, who pour