38
Orion.
[Book I.
Sleep's God the prayer well pleased received, but said
"Not such the meed of those who seek my courts
Through Bacchanalian orgies." O'er the brain
Of fallen Orion visions suitable
Came with voluptuous gorgeousness, preceded
By a dim ode; and as it nearer swelled,
In rapturous beauty Merope swept by,
Who on him gazed in ecstasy! He strove
To rise—to speak—in vain. Yet still she gazed,
And still he strove; till a voice cried in his ear,
"Depart from Artemis!—she loves thee not—
Thou art too full of earth! " He started awake!
The piercing voice that cast him forth, still rang
Within his soul; the vision of delight
Still ached along each nerve; and slowly turning
A look perplexed around the spectral air,
Himself he found alone 'neath the cold sky
Of day-break, midst black ashes and ruins drear.
"Not such the meed of those who seek my courts
Through Bacchanalian orgies." O'er the brain
Of fallen Orion visions suitable
Came with voluptuous gorgeousness, preceded
By a dim ode; and as it nearer swelled,
In rapturous beauty Merope swept by,
Who on him gazed in ecstasy! He strove
To rise—to speak—in vain. Yet still she gazed,
And still he strove; till a voice cried in his ear,
"Depart from Artemis!—she loves thee not—
Thou art too full of earth! " He started awake!
The piercing voice that cast him forth, still rang
Within his soul; the vision of delight
Still ached along each nerve; and slowly turning
A look perplexed around the spectral air,
Himself he found alone 'neath the cold sky
Of day-break, midst black ashes and ruins drear.
