Page:Thirty poems (IA thirtypoems00bryarich).pdf/187

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FIFTH BOOK OF HOMER'S ODYSSEY.
181
O'ermastered him. But when he breathed again,And his flown senses had returned, he loosedThe veil that Ino gave him from his breast,And to the salt flood cast it. A great waveBore it far down the stream; the goddess thereIn her own hands received it. He, meanwhile,Withdrawing from the brink, lay down amongThe reeds, and kissed the harvest-bearing earth,And thus to his great soul, lamenting, said: "Ah me! what must I suffer more! what yetWill happen to me? If, by the river's side,I pass the unfriendly watches of the night,The cruel cold and dews that steep the bankMay, in this weakness, end me utterlyFor chilly blows the river air at dawn.But should I climb this hill, to sleep withinThe shadowy wood, among thick shrubs, if coldAnd weariness allow me, then I fear,That, while the pleasant slumbers o'er me steal,I may become the prey of savage beasts."
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