Ambergris

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.