Page:Writings of Oscar Wilde - Volume 01.djvu/82

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THE WRITINGS OF OSCAR WILDE.
And I will cut a reed by yonder spring  And make the wood-gods jealous, and old Pan Wonder what young intruder dares to sing  In these still haunts, where never foot of man Should tread at evening, lest he chance to spy The marble limbs of Artemis and all her company.
And I will tell thee why the jacinth wears  Such dread embroidery of dolorous moan, And why the hapless nightingale forbears  To sing her song at noon, but weeps alone When the fleet swallow sleeps, and rich men feast,And why the laurel trembles when she sees the lightening east.
And I will sing how sad Proserpina  Unto a grave and gloomy Lord was wed, And lure the silver-breasted Helena  Back from the lotus meadows of the dead, So shalt thou see that awful loveliness For which two mighty Hosts met fearfully in war's abyss!
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