Canto III.]
Orion.
73
The snows on every height had drank the showers,
Till heavy with the moisture, each steep ridge
Lost its pure whiteness and transparent frost;
Sank down as humbly as a maid once proud,
Who droops and kneels and weeps; and from beneath
Its stagnant foam melted quick running rills
Down slopes, with sunny music and loud hum,
Precipitous, ere through dark craggy rifts
Sparkling it dashed, and poured towards the plain.
Unusual growth of corn was in the land,
Whose fields with tender-flowing greenness smiled,
As winds with shades ran dances over them;
And e'en the vineyards, oliveyards, and groves
Of citron, were in their abundant fruits
Abundantly increased: all works increased.
Till heavy with the moisture, each steep ridge
Lost its pure whiteness and transparent frost;
Sank down as humbly as a maid once proud,
Who droops and kneels and weeps; and from beneath
Its stagnant foam melted quick running rills
Down slopes, with sunny music and loud hum,
Precipitous, ere through dark craggy rifts
Sparkling it dashed, and poured towards the plain.
Unusual growth of corn was in the land,
Whose fields with tender-flowing greenness smiled,
As winds with shades ran dances over them;
And e'en the vineyards, oliveyards, and groves
Of citron, were in their abundant fruits
Abundantly increased: all works increased.
Dark as an eagle on a cloudy rock,
Œnopion sat upon his ancient throne.
Fixed was his face, while, through a distant gate,
Upon the ruins of a tower he gazed,
That like a Titan's shattered skeleton
Still in its place stuck fast. But she was gone;
His daughter Merope was borne away;
Œnopion sat upon his ancient throne.
Fixed was his face, while, through a distant gate,
Upon the ruins of a tower he gazed,
That like a Titan's shattered skeleton
Still in its place stuck fast. But she was gone;
His daughter Merope was borne away;
