| |
| PERSEPHONE! Persephone! | |
| Give back my lost delight to me! | |
| By thy great love for thy great lord, | |
| By each sweet thought for him adored, | |
| By love that thrills and love that fills | 5 |
| Thy heart as with a thousand rills | |
| Of joy, break down his frozen breast | |
| And lull his vengeful mood to rest, | |
| Till mighty Pluto joyfully | |
| Shall, from his very love for thee, | 10 |
| Give back my soul’s delight to me— | |
| Eurydice! Eurydice! | |
| |
| Persephone! Persephone! | |
| Recall thy lord’s great love for thee, | |
| When in sweet Enna’s golden meads | 15 |
| Thou heard’st that rustling of the reeds, | |
| And in thy hands the love-crushed flowers | |
| Were grasped with fear, as from earth’s bowers | |
| He strained thee to his mighty breast, | |
| And bore thee, senseless, to the West, | 20 |
| Beyond the opalescent sea | |
| That nightly sings its song of thee; | |
| Give back my soul’s delight to me— | |
| Eurydice! Eurydice! | |
| |
| Persephone! Persephone! | 25 |
| Mark how thy lord yet frowns on me, | |
| Behold the tightening of his lip— | |
| Kiss, kiss his mouth lest there may slip | |
| One word of doom to dash my hope: | |
| Bend down on him thine eyes, and cope | 30 |
| With love the gleams that in them shine, | |
| The while I summon to me, mine; | |
| Break, break, by love and memory | |
| The bond of Hades, set me free | |
| Her soul, that is the soul of me— | 35 |
| Eurydice! Eurydice! | |
| |
| Persephone! Persephone! | |
| Clasp him so close he may not see; | |
| Look deep into his soul with love | |
| That from thine eyes he shall not move | 40 |
| His own;—ah! thus I gazed on her | |
| That night and heard no serpent stir, | |
| For love, once thralling all the mind, | |
| Makes all the little senses blind; | |
| ’Tis well! he drinks love’s alchemy! | 45 |
| Where’er in Hades thou may’st be— | |
| Come back! my love! come back to me, | |
| Eurydice! Eurydice! | |
| |
| Persephone! Persephone! | |
| Lull him with love that unto me | 50 |
| No thought may leap with sudden ire, | |
| And steal again my heart’s desire | |
| When she shall come. Ye gods! that light, | |
| It shone when on that fatal night | |
| The daemons took her from my side; | 55 |
| ’Tis she! they bring her back, my bride! | |
| Let Pluto wake! let Jove decree! | |
| Myself—my soul—come back to me | |
| My joy in life and death to be— | |
| Eurydice! Eurydice! | 60 |
| |
| Persephone! Persephone! | |
| A moment more and we are free; | |
| I feel the breath of outer air, | |
| I see the upper stars so fair, | |
| I hear the lapping of salt waves, | 65 |
| I see the light of day that saves, | |
| I feel the pulsing heart-throbs run | |
| Through her fair limbs, I watch the sun | |
| Uprising in her eyes—and see! | |
| Its living light thrills into me; | 70 |
| She has come back—come back to me!— | |
| Eurydice! Eurydice! | |
| |
