Fever of the heart and brain, VIII. IN THE GARDEN. EPIMETHEUS. THE storm is past, but it hath left behind it Ruin and desolation. All the walks Are strewn with shattered boughs; the birds are silent; The flowers, downtrodden by the wind, lie dead; The swollen rivulet sobs with secret pain ; The melancholy reeds whisper together As if some dreadful deed had been committed They dare not name, and all the air is heavy With an unspoken sorrow! Premonitions, Foreshadowings of some terrible disaster Oppress my heart. Ye Gods, avert the omen ! O Epimetheus, I no longer dare Being no longer worthy of thy love. EPIMETHEUS. What hast thou done? PANDORA. Forgive me not, but kill me. EPIMETHEUS. CHORUS OF DREAMS FROM THE GATE What hast thou done? OF HORN. EPIMETHEUS. Thy pallor and thy silence terrify me! PANDORA. I have brought wrath and ruin on thy house! My heart hath braved the oracle that guarded The fatal secret from us, and my hand EPIMETHEUS. Then all is lost! I am indeed undone. PANDORA. That made me brave the oracle, revolts EPIMETHEUS. Youth, hope, and love: Even now in passing through the garden Upon the ground I saw a fallen nest I pray for punishment, and not for par-Busy in building a new habitation. don. Mine is the fault, not thine. On me Auspicious omen! shall fall Me let them punish. Only through punishment of our evil deeds, Only through suffering, are we reconciled CHORUS OF THE EUMENIDES. The daughters dark of Acheron and Unquenched our torches glare, Send forth prophetic sounds before they Never by lapse of time The soul defaced by crime Into its former self returns again; Holds in itself the seed Of retribution and undying pain. Never shall be the loss Hath purified them with his heavenly fires; Then what was lost is won, Kindled with nobler passions and desires. THE HANGING OF THE CRANE. I. THE lights are out, and gone are all the guests That thronging came with merriment and jests To celebrate the Hanging of the Crane In the new house, - into the night are gone; But still the fire upon the hearth burns on, And I alone remain. O fortunate, O happy day, When a new household finds its place So said the guests in speech and song, As shadows passing into deeper shade For two alone, there in the hall, They want no guests, to come between The great, forgotten world outside; They want no guests; they needs must be Each other's own best company. Seated, I see the two again, With face as round as is the moon ; Are these celestial manners? these IV. As one who walking in a forest sees trees, |