Page:Suppliant Maidens (Morshead) 1883.djvu/17

Rh And there, 'mid storm and lightning's shine,

And scudding drift and thunder's roar,

Deep death be theirs, in stormy brine!

Before they foully grasp and win

Us, maiden-children of their kin,

And climb the couch by law denied,

And wrong each weak reluctant bride.

And now on her I call,

Mine ancestress, who far on Egypt's shore

A young cow's semblance wore,—

A maiden once, by Hera's malice changed!

And then on him withal,

Who, as amid the flowers the grazing heifer ranged,

Was in her by a breath of Zeus conceived;

And, as the hour of birth drew nigh,

By fate fulfilled, unto the light he came;—

And Epaphus for name,

Born from the touch of Zeus, the child received.

On him, on him I cry,

And him for patron hold—

While in this grassy vale I stand,

Where Io roamed of old!

And here, recounting all her toil and pain,

Signs will I show to those who rule the land

That I am child of hers; and all shall understand,

Hearing the doubtful tale of the dim past made plain.

And, ere the end shall be,

Each man the truth of what I tell shall see.

And if there dwell hard by