Page:The Poems of Oscar Wilde.pdf/101

 Of an untrodden vale at Tempe where

On the clear river's marge Narcissus lies,

The tangle of the forest in his hair,

The silence of the woodland in his eyes,

Wooing that drifting imagery which is

No sooner kissed than broken, memories of Salmacis

Who is not boy nor girl and yet is both,

Fed by two fires and unsatisfied

Through their excess, each passion being loth

For love's own sake to leave the other's side

Yet killing love by staying, memories

Of Oreads peeping through the leaves of silent moonlit trees,

Of lonely Ariadne on the wharf

At Naxos, when she saw the treacherous crew

Far out at sea, and waved her crimson scarf

And called false Theseus back again nor knew

That Dionysos on an amber pard

Was close behind her, memories of what Mæonia's bard

With sightless eyes beheld, the wall of Troy,

Queen Helen lying in the ivory room,

And at her side an amorous red-lipped boy

Trimming with dainty hand his helmet's plume, 87