Collected Works (Vol. III)

186 — ORPHEUS And deep unrest is seated in your limbs. Ye pity me. Ye pity. Mute and weak With the long trouble of persistent hymns I bow myself and listen while ye speak. MINOS. Brethren, what need of wonder That Hell is burst asunder Shaken from base to brow, as if with Zeus’ own thunder? What wonder if our peace Broke, and our mysteries Quaked at the prescience of these solemnities ? AE ACUS. Child of the earth and heaven, Our spirits thou hast riven With words we must admit, with power of song—whence given? Neither of God nor man, Thy song’s amazing span Hath caused strange joy among the woes Tartarean. RHADAMANTHUS. Never in the centuries Till godlike Heracles Burst the wild bonds, hath mortal found the fatal knees; Nor hath the bitter cry Of worlds in agony Answered the groans of those who weep, and cannot die. MINOS. Iron of heart and strong, We also suffer wrong. We know these words are just. not. Though thy song Were the sole word of Zeus, Should that avail to loose The bands of Being firm, invulnerable dews Tincturing its bitter brass, Shielding its vital mass From every word that cries, ‘‘ Thus, and thy day shall pass.” We avail ALACUS. Typhon ! Typhon ! Typhon ! Heard ye that awful moan Leap through the blackness from the miser- able throne? Vain as each pallid ghost, Where is thy fatal boast, Destroyer named of old on Khem’s! disas- trous coast? Old power of-evil curled Below the phantom world, Canst thou destroy, whose might to misery is hurled ? RHADAMANTHUS. What god beyond these twain Abides or may remain Seated, too strong to quell, exalted over pain ? -Aloof from time and chance, Fate, will and circumstance, Canst Thou not wither Life with one in- dignant glance? Thy name we know not; Thine Is the unbuilded shrine. We doubt us if Thou be among the powers divine ! MINOS. Bound by strict line and law, Fearful with might and awe, We hold the powerless power For many an agéd hour. We move not from our place. We ask nor give not grace, Nor change our lordly looks before a sup- pliant’s face. AL ACUS. Stern in all justice, we Assent aloud to thee, We affirm thy cause as right : We put forth all the might Of aid : and all is done. Our utmost power is none To lift one soul to live and look upon the sun. 1 Egypt.