Page:House of Atreus 2nd ed (1889).djvu/49

Rh To plead Is all for got?

How oft those halls of old,

Wherein my sire high feast did hold,

Rang to the virginal soft strain,

When I, a stainless child,

Sang from pure lips and undefiled,

Sang of my sire, and all

His honoured life, and how on him should fall

Heaven's highest gift and gain!

And then—but I beheld not, nor can tell,

What further fate befel:

But this is sure, that Calchas' boding strain

Can ne'er be void or vain.

This wage from Justice' hand do sufferers earn,

The future to discern:

And yet—farewell, O secret of To-morrow!

Fore-knowledge is fore-sorrow.

Clear with the clear beams of the morrow's sun,

The future presseth on.

Now, let the house's tale, how dark soe'er,

Find yet an issue fair!

—So prays the loyal, solitary band

That guards the Apian land.

[''They turn to Clytemnestra, who leaves the altars and comes forward''.

O queen, I come in reverence of thy sway—

For, while the ruler's kingly seat is void,

The loyal heart before his consort bends.

Now—be it sure and certain news of good,

Or the fair tidings of a flatt'ring hope,

That bids thee spread the light from shrine to shrine,

I, fain to hear, yet grudge not if thou hide.