Helen of Troy | Page 9

name shall be a hissing that a man?Shall smile to speak, and women curse and hate,
And on my little child shall come a ban,?And all my lofty home be desolate.
XII.
"Is it thy will that like a golden cup
From lip to lip of heroes I must go,?And be but as a banner lifted up,
To beckon where the winds of war may blow??Have I not seen fair Athens in her woe,?And all her homes aflame from sea to sea,
When my fierce brothers wrought her overthrow?Because Athenian Theseus carried me -
XIII.
"Me, in my bloomless youth, a maiden child,
From Artemis' pure altars and her fane,?And bare me, with Pirithous the wild
To rich Aphidna? Many a man was slain,?And wet with blood the fair Athenian plain,?And fired was many a goodly temple then,
But fire nor blood can purify the stain?Nor make my name reproachless among men."
XIV.
Then Helen ceased, her passion like a flame
That slays the thing it lives by, blazed and fell,?As faint as waves at dawn, though fierce they came,
By night to storm some rocky citadel;?For Aphrodite answer'd,--like a spell?Her voice makes strength of mortals pass away, -
"Dost thou not know that I have loved thee well,?And never loved thee better than to-day?
XV.
"Behold, thine eyes are wet, thy cheeks are wan,
Yet art thou born of an immortal sire,?The child of Nemesis and of the Swan;
Thy veins should run with ichor and with fire.?Yet this is thy delight and thy desire,?To love a mortal lord, a mortal child,
To live, unpraised of lute, unhymn'd of lyre,?As any woman pure and undefiled.
XVI.
"Thou art the toy of Gods, an instrument
Wherewith all mortals shall be plagued or blest,?Even at my pleasure; yea, thou shalt be bent
This way and that, howe'er it like me best:?And following thee, as tides the moon, the West?Shall flood the Eastern coasts with waves of war,
And thy vex'd soul shall scarcely be at rest,?Even in the havens where the deathless are.
XVII.
"The instruments of men are blind and dumb,
And this one gift I give thee, to be blind?And heedless of the thing that is to come,
And ignorant of that which is behind;?Bearing an innocent forgetful mind?In each new fortune till I visit thee
And stir thy heart, as lightning and the wind?Bear fire and tumult through a sleeping sea.
XVIII.
"Thou shalt forget Hermione; forget
Thy lord, thy lofty palace, and thy kin;?Thy hand within a stranger's shalt thou set,
And follow him, nor deem it any sin;?And many a strange land wand'ring shalt thou win,?And thou shalt come to an unhappy town,
And twenty long years shalt thou dwell therein,?Before the Argives mar its towery crown.
XIX.
"And of thine end I speak not, but thy name, -
Thy name which thou lamentest,--that shall be?A song in all men's speech, a tongue of flame
Between the burning lips of Poesy;?And the nine daughters of Mnemosyne,?With Prince Apollo, leader of the nine,
Shall make thee deathless in their minstrelsy!?Yea, for thou shalt outlive the race divine,
XX.
"The race of Gods, for like the sons of men
We Gods have but our season, and go by;?And Cronos pass'd, and Uranus, and then
Shall Zeus and all his children utterly?Pass, and new Gods be born, and reign, and die, -?But thee shall lovers worship evermore
What Gods soe'er usurp the changeful sky,?Or flit to the irremeable shore.
XXI.
"Now sleep and dream not, sleep the long day through,
And the brief watches of the summer night,?And then go forth amid the flowers and dew,
Where the red rose of Dawn outburns the white.?Then shalt thou learn my mercy and my might?Between the drowsy lily and the rose;
There shalt thou spell the meaning of delight,?And know such gladness as a Goddess knows!"
XXII.
Then Sleep came floating from the Lemnian isle,
And over Helen crush'd his poppy crown,?Her soft lids waver'd for a little while,
Then on her carven bed she laid her down,?And Sleep, the comforter of king and clown,?Kind Sleep the sweetest, near akin to Death,
Held her as close as Death doth men that drown,?So close that none might hear her inward breath -
XXIII.
So close no man might tell she was not dead!
And then the Goddess took her zone,--where lies?All her enchantment, love and lustihead,
And the glad converse that beguiles the wise,?And grace the very Gods may not despise,?And sweet Desire that doth the whole world move, -
And therewith touch'd she Helen's sleeping eyes?And made her lovely as the Queen of Love.
XXIV.
Then laughter-loving Aphrodite went
To far Idalia, over land and sea,?And scarce the fragrant cedar-branches bent
Beneath her footsteps, faring daintily;?And in Idalia the Graces three?Anointed her with oil ambrosial, -
So to her house in Sidon wended she?To mock the prayers of lovers when they call.
XXV.
And all day long the incense and the smoke
Lifted, and fell, and soft and slowly roll'd,?And many a hymn and musical awoke
Between the pillars of her house of gold,?And rose-crown'd girls, and fair boys linen-stoled,?Did sacrifice her fragrant courts within,
And in dark chapels wrought rites manifold?The