SYRINX AND PAN
YRINX is caught upon the Arcadian field.
The god’s grip huddles her girl breasts: his grim
And gnarléd lips grin forth the soul of him.-
The imprint of his bestial heart is sealed
And stamped armorial on her virgin shield,
Fame’s argent heraldry despoiled. Grows dim
For her the universe: supple and slim
She slides in vain. She loathes him—and doth yield.
Shame, sorrow, these be sire and dam of song.
Fatality, O Nature, is thy name.
Along the accurséd river, stagnant shame,
Eddying woe, from rape and godly wrong,
Springs the immortal reed: the mortal’s cry
Rises, an angry anthem, to the sky. _
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