Canto II.]
Orion.
57
Which once were iron-black. The sullen walls
Then smouldered down to steady oven-heat,
Like that with care attained when bread has ceased
Its steaming, and displays an angry tan.
The appalled faces of the giants shewed
Full consciousness of their immediate doom.
And soon the cave a potter's furnace glowed,
Or kiln for largest bricks, and thus remained
The while Orion, in his halo clasped
By some invisible power, beheld the clay,
Of these his early friends, change. Life was gone!
Then smouldered down to steady oven-heat,
Like that with care attained when bread has ceased
Its steaming, and displays an angry tan.
The appalled faces of the giants shewed
Full consciousness of their immediate doom.
And soon the cave a potter's furnace glowed,
Or kiln for largest bricks, and thus remained
The while Orion, in his halo clasped
By some invisible power, beheld the clay,
Of these his early friends, change. Life was gone!
Now sank the heat—the cave-walls lost their glare—
The red lights faded, and the halo pale
Around him, into chilly air expanded.
There stood the three great images, in hue
Of chalky white and red, like those strange shapes
In Egypt's ancient tombs; but presently
Each visage and each form with cracks and flaws
Was seamed, and the lost countenance brake up,
As, with brief toppling, forward prone they fell,—
And in dismay uttering a sudden cry,
Orion headlong from the cavern fled.
The red lights faded, and the halo pale
Around him, into chilly air expanded.
There stood the three great images, in hue
Of chalky white and red, like those strange shapes
In Egypt's ancient tombs; but presently
Each visage and each form with cracks and flaws
Was seamed, and the lost countenance brake up,
As, with brief toppling, forward prone they fell,—
And in dismay uttering a sudden cry,
Orion headlong from the cavern fled.
