Page:The poetical works of Matthew Arnold, 1897.djvu/231

Rh This long time rumors

The favored guest of Circe, brought by the waves?

Art thou he, stranger,—

The wise Ulysses,

Laertes' son?

ULYSSES.

I am Ulysses.

And thou too, sleeper?

Thy voice is sweet.

It may be thou hast followed

Through the islands some divine bard,

By age taught many things,—

Age, and the Muses;

And heard him delighting

The chiefs and people

In the banquet, and learned his songs,

Of gods and heroes,

Of war and arts,

And peopled cities,

Inland, or built

By the gray sea. If so, then hail!

I honor and welcome thee.

THE YOUTH.

The gods are happy.

They turn on all sides

Their shining eyes,

And see below them

The earth and men.

They see Tiresias

Sitting, staff in hand,

On the warm, grassy

Asopus bank,