I SAW A SNAKE-GIRT EMBRYON
I saw a snake-girt embryon, crowned and dumb,Its rigid finger, pointed towards the sky;From whence the fiery breath of life must come,That kindles unborn lip and rayless eye.I saw a demon beagle dark as night,A shadowy maiden, hounding through the air;And as she fled she shrieked with wild affright,And, Mœnad-like, behind her streamed her hair.The bridal couch of sad ProserpinaIn grim Hephæstus’ realm mine eyes beheld;The ravished bride bewailed her home afar—Her temples bound with Stygian asphodel.I saw the vast Plutonian gardens, whereThat cursed pomegranate shed its deadly bloom,Whose fatal fruitage, banned from upper airSad Ceres’ daughter till the seventh moon.I saw the Pleiads, in their skyey tent,Bemoan their starry sister, dead and cold;His bow against her fierce Orion bent—Orion zoned with belt of fretted gold.I saw the Avengers with viperean hairAbove the palace roofs at Argos fly;The matricide Orestes shuddered there,Obscene with matted locks and haggard eye.I saw the loaded tables of the Sun,By ancient Nilus’ orbëd fountains spread;Where wont of old the happy gods to come,Twelve days by long-lived Ethiops richly fed.Phantoms of air exhaled by dark madjoon,And visionary fabrics dim and vast;Like vapors gliding o’er the autumnal moon,Before imagination’s eye they passed.
I saw a snake-girt embryon, crowned and dumb,Its rigid finger, pointed towards the sky;From whence the fiery breath of life must come,That kindles unborn lip and rayless eye.I saw a demon beagle dark as night,A shadowy maiden, hounding through the air;And as she fled she shrieked with wild affright,And, Mœnad-like, behind her streamed her hair.The bridal couch of sad ProserpinaIn grim Hephæstus’ realm mine eyes beheld;The ravished bride bewailed her home afar—Her temples bound with Stygian asphodel.I saw the vast Plutonian gardens, whereThat cursed pomegranate shed its deadly bloom,Whose fatal fruitage, banned from upper airSad Ceres’ daughter till the seventh moon.I saw the Pleiads, in their skyey tent,Bemoan their starry sister, dead and cold;His bow against her fierce Orion bent—Orion zoned with belt of fretted gold.I saw the Avengers with viperean hairAbove the palace roofs at Argos fly;The matricide Orestes shuddered there,Obscene with matted locks and haggard eye.I saw the loaded tables of the Sun,By ancient Nilus’ orbëd fountains spread;Where wont of old the happy gods to come,Twelve days by long-lived Ethiops richly fed.Phantoms of air exhaled by dark madjoon,And visionary fabrics dim and vast;Like vapors gliding o’er the autumnal moon,Before imagination’s eye they passed.
I saw a snake-girt embryon, crowned and dumb,Its rigid finger, pointed towards the sky;From whence the fiery breath of life must come,That kindles unborn lip and rayless eye.
I saw a snake-girt embryon, crowned and dumb,
Its rigid finger, pointed towards the sky;
From whence the fiery breath of life must come,
That kindles unborn lip and rayless eye.
I saw a demon beagle dark as night,A shadowy maiden, hounding through the air;And as she fled she shrieked with wild affright,And, Mœnad-like, behind her streamed her hair.
I saw a demon beagle dark as night,
A shadowy maiden, hounding through the air;
And as she fled she shrieked with wild affright,
And, Mœnad-like, behind her streamed her hair.
The bridal couch of sad ProserpinaIn grim Hephæstus’ realm mine eyes beheld;The ravished bride bewailed her home afar—Her temples bound with Stygian asphodel.
The bridal couch of sad Proserpina
In grim Hephæstus’ realm mine eyes beheld;
The ravished bride bewailed her home afar—
Her temples bound with Stygian asphodel.
I saw the vast Plutonian gardens, whereThat cursed pomegranate shed its deadly bloom,Whose fatal fruitage, banned from upper airSad Ceres’ daughter till the seventh moon.
I saw the vast Plutonian gardens, where
That cursed pomegranate shed its deadly bloom,
Whose fatal fruitage, banned from upper air
Sad Ceres’ daughter till the seventh moon.
I saw the Pleiads, in their skyey tent,Bemoan their starry sister, dead and cold;His bow against her fierce Orion bent—Orion zoned with belt of fretted gold.
I saw the Pleiads, in their skyey tent,
Bemoan their starry sister, dead and cold;
His bow against her fierce Orion bent—
Orion zoned with belt of fretted gold.
I saw the Avengers with viperean hairAbove the palace roofs at Argos fly;The matricide Orestes shuddered there,Obscene with matted locks and haggard eye.
I saw the Avengers with viperean hair
Above the palace roofs at Argos fly;
The matricide Orestes shuddered there,
Obscene with matted locks and haggard eye.
I saw the loaded tables of the Sun,By ancient Nilus’ orbëd fountains spread;Where wont of old the happy gods to come,Twelve days by long-lived Ethiops richly fed.
I saw the loaded tables of the Sun,
By ancient Nilus’ orbëd fountains spread;
Where wont of old the happy gods to come,
Twelve days by long-lived Ethiops richly fed.
Phantoms of air exhaled by dark madjoon,And visionary fabrics dim and vast;Like vapors gliding o’er the autumnal moon,Before imagination’s eye they passed.
Phantoms of air exhaled by dark madjoon,
And visionary fabrics dim and vast;
Like vapors gliding o’er the autumnal moon,
Before imagination’s eye they passed.