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(From Erechtheus)
SUN, that hast lightened and loosed by thy might | |
| Ocean and earth from the lordship of night, | |
| Quickening with vision his eye that was veiled, | |
| Freshening the force in her heart that had failed, | |
| That sister fettered and blinded brother | 5 |
| Should have sight by thy grace and delight of each other, | |
| Behold now and see | |
| What profit is given them of thee; | |
| What wrath has enkindled with madness of mind | |
| Her limbs that were bounden, his face that was blind, | 10 |
| To be locked as in wrestle together, and lighten | |
| With fire that shall darken thy fire in the sky, | |
| Body to body and eye against eye | |
| In a war against kind, | |
| Till the bloom of her fields and her high hills whiten | 15 |
| With the foam of his waves more high. | |
| For the sea-marks set to divide of old | |
| The kingdoms to ocean and earth assigned, | |
| The hoar sea-fields from the cornfield’s gold, | |
| His wine-bright waves from her vineyards’ fold, | 20 |
| Frail forces we find | |
| To bridle the spirit of gods, or bind | |
| Till the heat of their hearts wax cold. | |
| But the peace that was ’stablished between them to stand | |
| Is rent now in twain by the strength of his hand, | 25 |
| Who stirs up the storm of his sons overbold | |
| To pluck from fight what he lost of right, | |
| By council and judgment of gods that spake | |
| And gave great Pallas the strife’s fair stake, | |
| The lordship and love of the lovely land, | 30 |
| The grace of the town that hath on it for crown | |
| But a headband to wear | |
| Of violets one-hued with her hair: | |
| For the vales and the green high places of earth | |
| Hold nothing so fair, | 35 |
| And the depths of the sea bear no such birth | |
| Of the manifold births they bear. | |
| Too well, too well was the great stake worth | |
| A strife divine for the gods to judge, | |
| A crowned god’s triumph, a foiled god’s grudge, | 40 |
| Though the loser be strong and the victress wise | |
| Who played long since for so large a prize, | |
| The fruitful, immortal, anointed, adored, | |
| Dear city of men without master or lord, | |
| Fair fortress and fortress of sons born free, | 45 |
| Who stand in her sight and in thine, O sun, | |
| Slaves of no man, subjects of none; | |
| A wonder enthroned on the hills and sea, | |
| A maiden crowned with a fourfold glory | |
| That none from the pride of her head may rend, | 50 |
| Violet and olive-leaf purple and hoary, | |
| Song-wreath and story the fairest of fame, | |
| Flowers that the winter can blast not or bend; | |
| A light upon earth as the sun’s own flame, | |
| A name as his name, | 55 |
| Athens, a praise without end. | |
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