Page:The Dream of Pythagoras and Other Poems.djvu/31

 And number'd me among his ruffian host

Of racers. Then unceasingly I fled

Despairing through the murky firmament,

Like a lone wreck athwart a midnight sea,

Chased by the howling spirits of the storm,

And without rest. At last, one day I saw.

In my continual flight, a desert blank

And broad beneath me, where no water was;

And there I mark'd a weary antelope.

Dying for thirst, all stretch'd out on the sand,

"With her poor trembling lips in agony

Press'd to a scorch'd-up spring; then, then, at last

My hard heart broke, and I could weep. At once

My terrible race was stopp'd, and I did melt

Into the desert's heart, and with my tears

T quench'd the thirst of the poor antelope.

So having pour'd myself into the dry

And desolate waste, I sprang up a wild flower

In solitary beauty. There I grew

Alone and feverish, for the hot sun burn'd.

And parch'd my tender leaves, and not a sigh

Came from the winds. I seem'd to breathe an air

Of fire, and had resigned myself to death.

When lo! a solitary dewdrop fell