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THE RITES OF ELEUSIS
Spouse, daughter, mother of God,
Queen of the blest abode
In Cyprus’ splendour singly glittering.
Sweet sister unto me,
I cry aloud to thee!
I laugh upon thee laughing, Ο dew caught up from sea!
Drawn by sharp sparrow and dove,
And swan’s wide plumes of love,
And all the swallow’s swifter vehemence,
And, subtler than the Sphinx,
The ineffable iynx
Heralds thy splendour swooning into sense,
When (rom the bluest bowers
And greenest—hearted hours
Of Heaven thou smil'st toward earth, a miracle of flowers!
Down to the loveless sea
Where lay Persephone
Violate, where the shade of earth is black,
Crystalline out of space
Flames the immortal face!
The glory of the comet-tailed track
Blinds all black earth with tears
Silence awakes and hears
The music of thy moving come over the starry spheres.
Wrapped in rose, green, and gold,
Blues many and manifold,
Α cloud of incense hides thy splendour of light;
Hides from the prayer’s distress
Thy loftier loveliness,
Till thy veil’s glory shrouds the earth from night;
And silence speaks indeed,
Seeing the subtler speed
Of its own thought than speech of the Pandean reed !
[LIBRA returns.