Page:The poetical works of Matthew Arnold, 1897.djvu/295

Rh Loitering and leaping,

With saunter, with bounds,

Flickering and circling

In files and in rounds,

Gayly their pine-staff green

Tossing in air,

Loose o'er their shoulders white

Showering their hair,

See! the wild Mænads

Break from the wood,

Youth and Iacchus

Maddening their blood.

See! through the quiet land

Rioting they pass,

Fling the fresh heaps about,

Trample the grass,

Tear from the rifled hedge

Garlands, their prize;

Fill with their sports the field,

Fill with their cries.

Shepherd, what ails thee, then?

Shepherd, why mute?

Forth with thy joyous song!

Forth with thy flute!

Tempts not the revel blithe?

Lure not their cries?

Glow not their shoulders smooth?

Melt not their eyes?

Is not, on cheeks like those,

Lovely the flush?

—Ah! so the quiet was!

So was the hush!