50
Orion.
[Book II.
Through the high palace gates Orion passed,
Speeding to seek strong aid for this hard task
Among his forest friends. Old memories
Slumbrously hung above the purple line
Of distance, to the east, while odorously
Glistened the tear-drops of a new-fallen shower;
And sun-set forced its beams through strangling boughs,
Gilding green shadows, till it blazed athwart
The giant-caves, and touched with watery fires
The heavy foot-marks which had plashed the sward
On vacant paths, through foliaged vistas steep,
Where gloom was mellowing to a grand repose.
At intervals, as from beneath the ground,
Far in the depth of these primeval cells,
Low respirations came. There, in great shade,
The giants sleep. Lost sons are they of Time.
Speeding to seek strong aid for this hard task
Among his forest friends. Old memories
Slumbrously hung above the purple line
Of distance, to the east, while odorously
Glistened the tear-drops of a new-fallen shower;
And sun-set forced its beams through strangling boughs,
Gilding green shadows, till it blazed athwart
The giant-caves, and touched with watery fires
The heavy foot-marks which had plashed the sward
On vacant paths, through foliaged vistas steep,
Where gloom was mellowing to a grand repose.
At intervals, as from beneath the ground,
Far in the depth of these primeval cells,
Low respirations came. There, in great shade,
The giants sleep. Lost sons are they of Time.
There is no hour when rest is sacred held
By him who works and builds; and eve and night,
Alike with day, his toil oftimes will claim.
"Awake companions! 't is Orion calls!"
And straight the giants rose, and came to him,
Save Akinetos, into whose low cave
They with a torch now entered, there to hold
By him who works and builds; and eve and night,
Alike with day, his toil oftimes will claim.
"Awake companions! 't is Orion calls!"
And straight the giants rose, and came to him,
Save Akinetos, into whose low cave
They with a torch now entered, there to hold
