Page:The Hundred Best Poems (lyrical) in the English language - second series.djvu/128

 "I was cut off from hope in that sad place, Which men called Aulis in those iron years: My father held his hand upon his face; I, blinded with my tears,

"Still strove to speak: my voice was thick with sighs As in a dream.Dimly I could descry The stern black-bearded kings with wolfish eyes, Waiting to see me die.

"The high masts flicker'd as they lay afloat; The crowds, the temples, waver'd, and the shore; The bright death quiver' d at the victim's throat; Touch'd; and I knew no more."

Whereto the other with a downward brow: "I would the white cold heavy-plunging foam, Whirl'd by the wind, had roll'd me deep below, Then when I left my home."

Her slow full words sank thro' the silence drear, As thunder-drops fall on a sleeping sea: Sudden I heard a voice that cried, "Come here, That I may look on thee."

I turning saw, throned on a flowery rise, One sitting on a crimson scarf unroll'd; A queen, with swarthy cheeks and bold black eyes, Brow-bound with burning gold.

She, flashing forth a haughty smile, began: "I govern'd men by change, and so I sway'd 106