| |
| FAR through the Delphian shades | |
| An Eastern trumpet rung! | |
| And the startled eagle rushed on high, | |
| With sounding flight through the fiery sky, | |
| And banners o’er the shadowy glades | 5 |
| To the sweeping winds were flung. | |
| |
| Banners, with deep-red gold | |
| All waving, as a flame, | |
| And a fitful glance from the bright spear-head | |
| On the dim wood-paths of the mountain shed, | 10 |
| And a peal of Asia’s war-notes told | |
| That in arms the Persian came. | |
| |
| He came, with starry gems | |
| On his quiver and his crest; | |
| With starry gems, at whose heart the day | 15 |
| Of the cloudless orient burning lay, | |
| And they cast a gleam on the laurel-stems, | |
| As onward his thousands pressed. | |
| |
| But a gloom fell o’er their way, | |
| And a heavy moan went by! | 20 |
| A moan, yet not like the wind’s low swell, | |
| When its voice grows wild amidst cave and dell, | |
| But a mortal murmur of dismay, | |
| Or a warrior’s dying sigh! | |
| |
| A gloom fell o’er their way! | 25 |
| ’T was not the shadow cast | |
| By the dark pine-boughs as they passed the blue | |
| Of the Grecian heavens with their solemn hue; | |
| The air was filled with a mightier sway, | |
| But on the spearmen passed! | 30 |
| |
| And hollow to their tread, | |
| Came the echoes of the ground, | |
| And banners drooped, as with dews o’erborne, | |
| And the wailing blast of the battle-horn | |
| Had an altered cadence, dull and dead, | 35 |
| Of strange foreboding sound. | |
| |
| But they blew a louder strain, | |
| When the steep defiles were passed! | |
| And afar the crowned Parnassus rose, | |
| To shine through heaven with his radiant snows, | 40 |
| And in golden light the Delphian fane | |
| Before them stood at last! | |
| |
| In golden light it stood, | |
| Midst the laurels gleaming lone, | |
| For the sun-god yet, with a lovely smile, | 45 |
| O’er its graceful pillars looked awhile, | |
| Though the stormy shade on cliff and wood | |
| Grew deep, round its mountain-throne. | |
| |
| And the Persians gave a shout! | |
| But the marble walls replied, | 50 |
| With a clash of steel, and a sullen roar | |
| Like heavy wheels on the ocean shore, | |
| And a savage trumpet’s note pealed out, | |
| Till their hearts for terror died! | |
| |
| On the armor of the god | 55 |
| Then a viewless hand was laid; | |
| There were helm and spear, with a clanging din, | |
| And corselet brought from the shrine within, | |
| From the inmost shrine of the dread abode, | |
| And before its front arrayed. | 60 |
| |
| And a sudden silence fell | |
| Through the dim and loaded air! | |
| On the wild bird’s wing, and the myrtle-spray, | |
| And the very founts, in their silvery way, | |
| With a weight of sleep came down the spell, | 65 |
| Till man grew breathless there. | |
| |
| But the pause was broken soon! | |
| ’T was not by song or lyre; | |
| For the Delphian maids had left their bowers, | |
| And the hearths were lone in the city’s towers, | 70 |
| But there burst a sound through the misty noon, | |
| That battle-noon of fire! | |
| |
| It burst from earth and heaven! | |
| It rolled from crag and cloud! | |
| For a moment of the mountain-blast, | 75 |
| With a thousand stormy voices passed, | |
| And the purple gloom of the sky was riven, | |
| When the thunder pealed aloud. | |
| |
| And the lightnings in their play | |
| Flashed forth, like javelins thrown; | 80 |
| Like sun-darts winged from the silver bow, | |
| They smote the spear and the turbaned brow, | |
| And the bright gems flew from the crests like spray, | |
| And the banners were struck down! | |
| |
| And the massy oak-boughs crashed | 85 |
| To the fire-bolts from on high, | |
| And the forest lent its billowy roar, | |
| While the glorious tempest onward bore, | |
| And lit the streams, as they foamed and dashed, | |
| With the fierce rain sweeping by. | 90 |
| |
| Then rushed the Delphian men | |
| On the pale and scattered host; | |
| Like the joyous burst of a flashing wave, | |
| They rushed from the dim Corycian cave, | |
| And the singing blast o’er wood and glen | 95 |
| Rolled on, with the spears they tossed. | |
| |
| There were cries of wild dismay, | |
| There were shouts of warrior-glee, | |
| There were savage sounds of the tempest’s mirth, | |
| That shook the realm of their eagle-birth; | 100 |
| But the mount of song, when they died away, | |
| Still rose, with its temple, free! | |
| |
| And the Pæan swelled erelong, | |
| Io Pæan! from the fane; | |
| Io Pæan! for the war-array, | 105 |
| On the crowned Parnassus riven that day! | |
| Thou shalt rise as free, thou mount of song! | |
| With thy bounding streams again. | |
| |
