Page:Orion, an epic poem - Horne (1843, 3rd edition).djvu/107

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Canto I.]
Orion.
101
And in the front of Akinetos' cave
Shouting with gladness and resounding life,
Performed a hideous but full-hearted dance.
"Dance, rocks and forests! Akinetos dance!
The Worker and the Builder hath his sight!
Ho! ho! come forth—with either eye he sees!
Come forth, O Akinetos—laugh ye rocks!"

A shadow o'er the face of him who sat
Within that cave, passed,—lightly wrinkling
The ledge-like brow, which, though of granite, smoothed
Not vexed, by ocean's tempests, now relaxed,
As it would say "I pity this return
Of means for seeking fresh distress;"—and then,
The broad great features their fixed calm resumed.

'T was thus Orion fared; and this the scene.
Fast through the clouds retiring, the pale orb
Of Artemis a moment seemed to hang
Suspended in a halo, phantom-like,
Over a restless sea of jasper fire,
While bending forward tow'rds the eastern mount,
She gazed and hearkened. Soon the fervent voice
Of one who prayed beneath amid the mist,