Page:Poems, Volume 2, Coates, 1916.djvu/57

Rh Though Heracles sit in his tent

And boast to warlike Telamon

Of monsters tamed and labors done;

Though he recount in lofty strain

How dread Nemea's plague was slain,

And loudly vaunt, grown eloquent,

The rattling heaven-descended spell,

And Cerberus upborne from Hell,—

Yet, even as he tells the story,

And boasts a world-renownèd glory,

Telamon applauding—then,

Ay, even then, let him recall

Shy Megara's face—he'd give it all,

All, Hylas, to be young again!"

The wondering boy beheld the gleam

Of tresses mirrored in the spring:

Naught else; yet soft as in a dream,

Those voices sweetly ravishing

Fell on his ear.

He bent more near,

Trembling, amazed,

And wistful gazed—

Grown eager more to hear—

Far down below the cool reflection

And wavy sheen of auburn hair.