Page:Lyra heroica.djvu/162

 138 LANDOR

That sunny dome ! those caves of ice ! And all who heard should see them there, And all should cry, Beware ! Beware ! His flashing eyes, his floating hair ! Weave a circle round him thrice, And close your eyes with holy dread, For he on honey-dew hath fed, And drunk the milk of Paradise.

Coleridge.

LXIV SACRIFICE

IPHIGENEIA, when she heard her doom At Aulis, and when all beside the King Had gone away, took his right hand, and said, 'O father! I am young and very happy. I do not think the pious Calchas heard Distinctly what the Goddess spake. Old-age Obscures the senses. If my nurse, who knew My voice so well, sometimes misunderstood While I was resting on her knee both arms And hitting it to make her mind my words, And looking in her face, and she in mine, Might he not also hear one word amiss, Spoken from so far off, even from Olympus? ' The father placed his cheek upon her head, And tears dropt down it, but the king of men Replied not. Then the maiden spake once more. 'O father! say'st thou nothing? Hear'st thou not Me, whom thou ever hast, until this hour,

�� �