Collected Works (Vol. III)

LIBER PRIMUS VEL CARMINUM 139 ORPHEUS. Then thou, O my mother, Hast given to me ‘The power of another, The watery key. Bright air is my brother, My sister the sea ; I have called, and they answer and come; and their song is but glory to thee. One other is left me, The light of the earth. If Fate had bereft me, Oh Muse, of thy birth, Still I had cleft me A way in her girth! | I tune the loud lyre once again to the mother of men in her mirth. O mighty and glad In spring-time and summer ! O tearful and sad When the sun is grown dumber, When the season is mad, And the gods overcome her, When the sky is fulfilled of the frost and the fingers of winter numb her ! O marvellous earth Of multiple mood That givest men birth And delicate food, Red wine to make mirth Of thine own red blood, And corn and green grass and sweet flowers and fruits most heavenly-hued ! Borne skyward in swoon By arrowy hours, Girt round of the:moon And the girdling flowers, The-sun for a boon, Sweet, kisses 'of showers, My soul is caught up In thy green-hearted waves. I drink at the cup Of thy sweet valley graves. My spirit may sup Slow tunes in thy caves. O hide me, thy child, in thy bosom, that the heart in me yearns to and craves. Most virginally sprung In the shadow of light, Eternally young, A magical sight, Wandering among Day, twilight, and night, As a bride in her chamber that dreams many visions of varied delight. O how shall my lyre Divide thee, dispart Thy water and fire, Thy soul and thy heart, Thy hills that spring higher, Thy flowers that upstart, How quire thee, my limitless love, with a lewd and a limited art? A fortress, a sphere, An arrow of flame ; Let thy children appear At the sound of thy name! In my silence uprear The sweet guerdon of shame ! Be they choral to hymn thee, O mother, thy magic ineffable fame ! Last birth of the Sun, Best gift of the giver, Thou surely art One ! As the moon on the river, Whose star-blossoms run, Kiss, tremble, and shiver, O mother, O life, O desire, my soul is a bird in thy bowers,! And roll into ultimate space, and are lost to man’s vision for ever.