Jephthah and Other Mysteries

LYRICAL AND DRAMATIC. 161 ODE TO POESY. NTO what likeness shall I liken thee, O moon-wrought maiden of my dewy sleep? For thou art Queen of Thoughts, and unto me Sister and Bride ; the worn earth’s echoes leap Because thy holy name is Poesy. Whereto art thou most like? Thou art a Dian, crescent o’er the sea That beats sonorous on the craggy shore, Or shakes the frail earth-dyke. So calm and still and far, that never more Thy silken song shall quiver through the land ; Only by coral isle, by lonely strand Where no man dwells, thy voice re-wakens wild and grand. Thou artan Aphrodite. From the foam Of golden grape and red thou risest up Immaculate ; thou hast an ebon comb Of shade and silence, and a jasper cup Wherein are mingled all desires. Thine home Is in the forest shade. M