Thomas TrevelyanReading in Ovid the sorrowful story of Itys,Son of the love of Tereus and Procne, slainFor the guilty passion of Tereus for Philomela,The flesh of him served to Tereus by Procne,And the wrath of Tereus, the murderess pursuingTill the gods made Philomela a nightingale,Lute of the rising moon, and Procne a swallowOh livers and artists of Hellas centuries gone,Sealing in little thuribles dreams and wisdom,Incense beyond all price, forever fragrant,A breath whereof makes clear the eyes of the soulHow I inhaled its sweetness here in Spoon River!The thurible opening when I had lived and learnedHow all of us kill the children of love, and all of us,Knowing not what we do, devour their flesh;And all of us change to singers, although it beBut once in our lives, or change—alas!—to swallows,To twitter amid cold winds and falling leaves!
Reading in Ovid the sorrowful story of Itys,Son of the love of Tereus and Procne, slainFor the guilty passion of Tereus for Philomela,The flesh of him served to Tereus by Procne,And the wrath of Tereus, the murderess pursuingTill the gods made Philomela a nightingale,Lute of the rising moon, and Procne a swallowOh livers and artists of Hellas centuries gone,Sealing in little thuribles dreams and wisdom,Incense beyond all price, forever fragrant,A breath whereof makes clear the eyes of the soulHow I inhaled its sweetness here in Spoon River!The thurible opening when I had lived and learnedHow all of us kill the children of love, and all of us,Knowing not what we do, devour their flesh;And all of us change to singers, although it beBut once in our lives, or change—alas!—to swallows,To twitter amid cold winds and falling leaves!