Page:Oxford Book of English Verse 1250-1918.djvu/954

 MATTHEW ARNOLD

j6i Philomela

HARK! ah, the Nightingale ' The tawny-throated!

Hark I from that moonlit cedar what a burst! What triumph ' hark what pain !

O Wanderer from a Grecian shore, Still, after many years, in distant lands, Still nourishing in thy bewilder'd brain That wild, unquench'd, deep-sunken, old-world pain- Say, will it never heal? And can this fragrant lawn With its cool trees, and night, And the sweet, tranquil Thames, And moonshine, and the dew, To thy rack'd heart and brain Afford no balm ?

Dost thou to-night behold

Here, through the moonlight on this English grass, The unfriendly palace in the Thracian wild ?

Dost thou again peruse With hot cheeks and sear'd eyes The too clear web, and thy dumb Sister's shame?

Dost thou once more assay Thy flight, and feel come over thee, Poor Fugitive, the feathery change Once more, and once more seem to make resound With love and hate, triumph and agony, Lone Daulis, and the high Cephissian vale ?

Listen, Eugenia

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