Page:Prometheus Bound, and other poems.djvu/36

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To speak abroad, but to veil utterly

In silence still. For by that secret kept,

I 'scape this chain's dishonor, and its woe.

Never, oh never,

May Zeus, the all-giver,

Wrestle down from his throne,

In that might of his own,

To antagonize mine!

Never let me delay

To bend on my way

To the gods of the shrine,

Where the altar is full

Of the blood of the bull,

Near the tossing brine

Of Ocean my father.

Nor my sin, be it sped in the word that is said,

But my vow, be it rather

Consummated,

Nor evermore fail, nor evermore pine.

'Tis sweet to have

Life lengthened out

With hopes that are brave

By the very doubt,

Till the spirit swells bold

With the joys foretold!

But I thrill to behold

Thee, victim doomed,

By the countless cares

And the drear despairs,

Lifelong, consumed.