Lingers, a light on the magic seas,
The wide fire flames, as a flower uncloses,

Heavy with odour, and loose to the breeze.
The red rose clouds, without law or leader,

Gather and float in the airy plain;
The nightingale sings to the dewy cedar,

The cedar scatters his scent to the main.
The strange flowers' perfume turns to singing,

Heard afar over moonlit seas:
The Siren's song, grown faint in winging,

Falls in scent on the cedar trees.
As waifs blown out of the sunset, flying,

Purple, and rosy, and grey, the birds
Brighten the air with their wings; their crying

Wakens a moment the weary herds.
Butterflies flit from the fairy garden,

Living blossoms of flying flowers;
Never the nights with winter harden,

Nor moons wax keen in this land of ours.
Great fruits, fragrant, green and golden,

Gleam in the green, and droop and fall;
Blossom, and bud, and flower unfolden,

Swing, and cling to the garden wall.
Deep in the woods as twilight darkens,

Glades are red with the scented fire;
Far in the dells the white maid hearkens,

Song and sigh of the heart's desire.
Ah, and as moonlight fades in morning,

Maiden's song in the matin grey,
Faints as the first bird's note, a warning,

Wakes and wails to the new-born day.
The waking song and the dying measure

Meet, and the waxing and waning light
Meet, and faint with the hours of pleasure,

The rose of the sea and the sky is white.
THE DEPARTURE FROM PHAEACIA.

The Phaeacians.
Why from the dreamy meadows,

More fair than any dream,
Why seek ye for the shadows

Beyond the ocean stream?
Through straits of storm and peril,

Through firths unsailed before,
Why make you for the sterile,

The dark Kimmerian shore?
There no bright streams are flowing,

There day and night are one,
No harvest time, no sowing,

No sight of any sun;
No sound of song or tabor,

No dance shall greet you there;
No noise of mortal labour

Breaks on the blind chill air.
Are ours not happy places,

Where gods with mortals trod?
Saw not our sires the faces

Of many a present god?
The Seekers.

Nay, now no god comes hither,
In shape that men may see;

They fare we know not whither,
We know not what they be.

Yea, though the sunset lingers
Far in your fairy glades,

Though yours the sweetest singers,
Though yours the kindest maids,

Yet here be the true shadows,
Here in the doubtful light;

Amid the dreamy meadows
No shadow haunts the night.

We seek a city splendid,
With light beyond the sun;

Or lands where dreams are ended,
And works and days are done.

A BALLAD OF DEPARTURE. (3)
Fair white bird, what song art thou singing

In wintry weather of lands o'er sea?
Dear white bird, what way art thou winging,

Where no grass grows, and no green tree?
I looked at the far-off fields and grey,

There grew no tree but the cypress tree,
That bears sad fruits with the flowers of May,

And whoso looks on it, woe is he.
And whoso eats of the fruit thereof

Has no more sorrow, and no more love;
And who sets the same in his garden stead,

In a little space he is waste and dead.
THEY HEAR THE SIRENS FOR THE SECOND TIME.

The weary sails a moment slept,
The oars were silent for a space,

As past Hesperian shores we swept,
That were as a remembered face

Seen after lapse of hopeless years,
In Hades, when the shadows meet,

Dim through the mist of many tears,
And strange, and though a shadow, sweet.

So seemed the half-remembered shore,
That slumbered, mirrored in the blue,

With havens where we touched of yore,
And ports that over well we knew.

Then broke the calm before a breeze
That sought the secret of the west;

And listless all we swept the seas
Towards the Islands of the Blest.

Beside a golden sanded bay
We saw the Sirens, very fair

The flowery hill whereon they lay,
The flowers set upon their hair.

Their old sweet song came down the wind,
Remembered music waxing strong, -

Ah now no need of cords to bind,
No need had we of Orphic song.

It once had seemed a little thing
To lay our lives down at their feet,

That dying we might hear them sing,
And dying see their faces sweet;

But now, we glanced, and passing by,
No care had we to tarry long;

Faint hope, and rest, and memory
Were more than any Siren's song.

CIRCE'S ISLE REVISITED.
Ah, Circe, Circe! in the wood we cried;

Ah, Circe, Circe! but no voice replied;
No voice from bowers o'ergrown and ruinous

As fallen rocks upon the mountain side.
There was no sound of singing in the air;

Faded or fled the maidens that were fair,
No more for sorrow or joy were seen of us,

No light of laughing eyes, or floating hair.
The perfume, and the music, and the flame

Had passed away; the memory of shame
Alone abode, and stings of faint desire,

And pulses of vague quiet went and came.
Ah, Circe! in thy sad changed fairy place,

Our dead youth came and looked on us a space,
With drooping wings, and eyes of faded fire.

And wasted hair about a weary face.
Why had we ever sought the magic isle

That seemed so happy in the days erewhile?
Why did we ever leave it, where we met

A world of happy wonders in one smile?
Back to the westward and the waning light

We turned, we fled; the solitude of night
Was better than the infinite regret,

In fallen places of our dead delight.
THE LIMIT OF LANDS.

Between the circling ocean sea
And the poplars of Persephone

There lies a strip of barren sand,
Flecked with the sea's last spray, and strown

With waste leaves of the poplars, blown
From gardens of the shadow land.

With altars of old sacrifice
The shore is set, in mournful wise

The mists upon the ocean brood;
Between the water and the air

The clouds are born that float and fare
Between the water and the wood.

Upon the grey sea never sail
Of mortals passed within our hail,

Where the last weak waves faint and flow;
We heard within the poplar pale

The murmur of a doubtful wail
Of voices loved so long ago.

We scarce had care to die or live,
We had no honey cake to give,

No wine of sacrifice to shed;
There lies no new path over sea,

And now we know how faint they be,
The feasts and voices of the dead.

Ah, flowers and dance! ah, sun and snow!
Glad life, sad life we did forego

To dream of quietness and rest;
Ah, would the fleet sweet roses here

Poured light and perfume through the drear
Pale year, and wan land of the west.

Sad youth, that let the spring go by
Because the spring is swift to fly,

Sad youth, that feared to mourn or love,
Behold how sadder far is this,

To know that rest is nowise bliss,
And darkness is the end thereof.

VERSES
MARTIAL IN TOWN.

Last night, within the stifling train,
Lit by the foggy lamp o'erhead,

Sick of the sad Last News, I read
Verse of that joyous child of Spain,

Who dwelt when Rome was waxing cold,
Within the Roman din and smoke.

And like my heart to me they spoke,
These accents of his heart of old:-

"Brother, had we but time to live,
And fleet the careless hours together,

With all that leisure has to give
Of perfect life and peaceful weather,

"The Rich Man's halls, the anxious faces,
The weary Forum, courts, and cases

Should know us not; but quiet nooks,
But summer shade by field and well,

But county rides, and talk of books,

• perfume [´pə:fju:m, pə´fju:m] n.香味 vt.使发香 (初中英语单词)
• sunset [´sʌnset] n.日落；晚霞 (初中英语单词)
• twilight [´twailait] n.黎明；黄昏 (初中英语单词)
• moonlight [´mu:nlait] n.&a.月光(的) (初中英语单词)
• departure [di´pɑ:tʃə] n.离开，出发 (初中英语单词)
• harvest [´hɑ:vist] n.&v.收获；收割 (初中英语单词)
• barren [´bærən] a.贫瘠的；不生育的 (初中英语单词)
• scarce [skeəs, skers] a.缺乏的；稀有的 (初中英语单词)
• careless [´keəlis] a.粗心的；草率的 (初中英语单词)
• peaceful [´pi:sfəl] a.和平的；平静的 (初中英语单词)
• anxious [´æŋkʃəs] a.担忧的；渴望的 (初中英语单词)
• fragrant [´freigrənt] a.芳香的，芬芳的 (高中英语单词)
• mortal [´mɔ:tl] a.致命的 n.凡人 (高中英语单词)
• doubtful [´dautful] a.怀疑的，可疑的 (高中英语单词)
• ballad [´bæləd] n.民歌，民谣 (高中英语单词)
• hopeless [´həupləs] a.无望的，无可救药的 (高中英语单词)
• westward [´westwəd] a.向西的 n.西方；西部 (高中英语单词)
• solitude [´sɔlitju:d] n.孤独；寂寞；荒凉 (高中英语单词)
• infinite [´infinit] a.无限的，无穷的 (高中英语单词)
• joyous [´dʒɔiəs] a.充满快乐的 (高中英语单词)
• leisure [´leʒə] n.空闲；悠闲；安定 (高中英语单词)
• nightingale [´naitiŋgeil] n.夜莺 (英语四级单词)
• far-off [´fɑ:rɔ:f] a.远方的，遥远的 (英语四级单词)
• cypress [´saipris] n.丝柏(枝) (英语四级单词)
• flowery [´flauəri] a.多花的 (英语四级单词)
• mournful [´mɔ:nful] a.令人沮丧的 (英语四级单词)
• poplar [´pɔplə] n.白杨；杨木 (英语四级单词)
• moonlit [´mu:n,lit] a.月光普照的 (英语六级单词)
• dreamy [´dri:mi] a.心不在焉的；朦胧的 (英语六级单词)
• wintry [´wintri] a.冬天的；荒凉的 (英语六级单词)
• whereon [weər´ɔn] ad.在什么上面；因此 (英语六级单词)