6
Orion.
[Book I.
His form displayed; and in his countenance
A noble honesty and ardour beamed,
With child-like faith, unconscious of themselves,
And of the world, its vanities and guile.
Eyes of deep blue, large waves of chestnut locks,
A forehead wide, and every feature strong,
Yet without heaviness or angry line,
Had he; and as he knelt, a trustful smile
That dreads no consequence, and quite forgets
All danger, lightly played around his mouth.
Meanwhile the Nymphs and all the sylvan troop,
Like wave on wave when coloured by the clouds,
Pell-mell come rolling round the mountain side,
And crowd around the Goddess, who commands
The hunt to pause. At once the music stops—
And all the hounds, with wistful looks, crouch down.
A noble honesty and ardour beamed,
With child-like faith, unconscious of themselves,
And of the world, its vanities and guile.
Eyes of deep blue, large waves of chestnut locks,
A forehead wide, and every feature strong,
Yet without heaviness or angry line,
Had he; and as he knelt, a trustful smile
That dreads no consequence, and quite forgets
All danger, lightly played around his mouth.
Meanwhile the Nymphs and all the sylvan troop,
Like wave on wave when coloured by the clouds,
Pell-mell come rolling round the mountain side,
And crowd around the Goddess, who commands
The hunt to pause. At once the music stops—
And all the hounds, with wistful looks, crouch down.
"Young Giant of the woods," said Artemis,
"The bow, that ne'er till now its glittering points
Bent back without recoil and whirring twang—
That sound a shaft's flight, and that flight a death—
For once to its quiescent shape returns
Unsated. 'Midst these woodland vales and heights
Seldom I rove, but from my train, have Nymphs
"The bow, that ne'er till now its glittering points
Bent back without recoil and whirring twang—
That sound a shaft's flight, and that flight a death—
For once to its quiescent shape returns
Unsated. 'Midst these woodland vales and heights
Seldom I rove, but from my train, have Nymphs
