From"DE PROFUNDIS"

From"DE PROFUNDIS"

I HEAR the wondrous lyreOf the blind bard, and see the Grecian throngAbout Troy's lofty walls, and Hector slain,The white-stained face and blackened crest,And great Achilles crumbling on his pyre.Then comes Ulysses sighing for his homeAfar, leaving the ruins of old TroyFor Ithaca, where oft, a glad-faced boy,He played amid the ripening vines and heardHis father's voice ere he began to roamThe weary waves. His heart is stirredWith thoughts of home, and son, and wife,And ever Circe holds him in her arms.How have I longed to drift on some fair isle,Like thee, from feverish alarms,And voices of reproach, and earth's vain strife—Some urnless land beyond the wileOf grief and gold, where man can quite forgetAll pain, and sleep and dream not of regret.

I HEAR the wondrous lyreOf the blind bard, and see the Grecian throngAbout Troy's lofty walls, and Hector slain,The white-stained face and blackened crest,And great Achilles crumbling on his pyre.Then comes Ulysses sighing for his homeAfar, leaving the ruins of old TroyFor Ithaca, where oft, a glad-faced boy,He played amid the ripening vines and heardHis father's voice ere he began to roamThe weary waves. His heart is stirredWith thoughts of home, and son, and wife,And ever Circe holds him in her arms.How have I longed to drift on some fair isle,Like thee, from feverish alarms,And voices of reproach, and earth's vain strife—Some urnless land beyond the wileOf grief and gold, where man can quite forgetAll pain, and sleep and dream not of regret.

I HEAR the wondrous lyreOf the blind bard, and see the Grecian throngAbout Troy's lofty walls, and Hector slain,The white-stained face and blackened crest,And great Achilles crumbling on his pyre.Then comes Ulysses sighing for his homeAfar, leaving the ruins of old TroyFor Ithaca, where oft, a glad-faced boy,He played amid the ripening vines and heardHis father's voice ere he began to roamThe weary waves. His heart is stirredWith thoughts of home, and son, and wife,And ever Circe holds him in her arms.How have I longed to drift on some fair isle,Like thee, from feverish alarms,And voices of reproach, and earth's vain strife—Some urnless land beyond the wileOf grief and gold, where man can quite forgetAll pain, and sleep and dream not of regret.

I HEAR the wondrous lyre

Of the blind bard, and see the Grecian throng

About Troy's lofty walls, and Hector slain,

The white-stained face and blackened crest,

And great Achilles crumbling on his pyre.

Then comes Ulysses sighing for his home

Afar, leaving the ruins of old Troy

For Ithaca, where oft, a glad-faced boy,

He played amid the ripening vines and heard

His father's voice ere he began to roam

The weary waves. His heart is stirred

With thoughts of home, and son, and wife,

And ever Circe holds him in her arms.

How have I longed to drift on some fair isle,

Like thee, from feverish alarms,

And voices of reproach, and earth's vain strife—

Some urnless land beyond the wile

Of grief and gold, where man can quite forget

All pain, and sleep and dream not of regret.


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