132 
AMBERGRIS 
 
 
 
 
FROM ORPHEUS 
 
The Mænads invoke Dionysus 
 
Hail, child of Semel ! 
To her as unto thee 
Be reverence, be deity, be immortality ! 
 
Shame !  treachery of the spouse 
Of the Olympian house, 
Hera !  thy grim device against the sweet carouse ! 
 
Lo !  in red roar and flame 
Did Zeus descend !  What claim 
To feel the immortal fire had then the Theban dame ! 
 
Caught in that fiery wave 
Her love and life she gave 
With one last kissing cry the unborn child to save. 
 
And thou, O Zeus, the sire 
Of Bromius—hunter dire !— 
Didst snatch the unborn babe from that Olympian fire : 
 
In thine own thigh most holy 
That offspring melancholy 
Didst hide, didst feed, on light, ambrosia, and moly. 
 
Ay !  and with serpent hair 
And limbs divinely fair 
Didst thou, Dionysus, leap forth to the nectar air ! 
 
Ay !  thus the dreams of fate 
We dare commemorate, 
Twining in lovesome curls the spoil of mate and mate.