Undertones

18.

She listen'd-stately, yet dismay'd;

And dimly conscious of some change

That made the whispering place seem strange And awful, far from human aid;

And as the moaning Stream grew near,

And whirl'd unto her with eddies clear,

She saw my shadow in his waves and shrank away in fear.

19..

"Small River, flowing with summer sound,

Strong River, solemn Ades' slave,

Flow unto her with gentle wave,

And make an isle, and hem her round."
The River, sad with gentle worth,

Felt backward to that cave of earth

Where, troubled with my crimson eyes, he shudder'd into birth.

20.

Him saw she trembling; but unseen,
Under long sedges lily-strew'd,

Round creeping roots of underwood,
Low down beneath the grasses green
Whereon she waited wondering-eyed,

My servant slid with stealthy tide :

Then like a fountain bubbled up and foam'd on either side.

21.

And shrinking back she gazed in fear

On his wild hair, and lo, an isle

Around whose brim waves rose the while

She cried, "O mother Ceres, hear!"

Then sprang she wildly to and fro,

Wilder than rain and white as snow.

"O honour'd River, grasp thy prize, and to the footstool flow!"

22.

One swift sun-beam with sickly flare

On white arms waving high did gleam,

What time she shriek'd, and the strong Stream Leapt up and grasp'd her by the hair.

And all was dark. With wild heads bow'd

The forests murmur'd, and black cloud

Split speumy on the mountain tops with fire and portent loud!

23.

Then all was still as the Abyss,

Save for the dark and bubbling water,

And the far voice.

"Bear Ceres' daughter

Unto the kingly feet of Dis!"

Wherefore I rose upon my throne,

And smote my kingdom's roof of stone;

Earth moan'd to her deep fiery roots-Hell answer'd

with a groan.

24.

When swiftly waving sulphurous wings
The Darkness brooded down in fear

To listen. I, afar, could hear
The coming River's murmurings;

My god-like eyes with flash of flame

Peer'd up the chasm. As if in shame

Of his slave-deed, darkly and slow, my trembling

servant came.

25.

The gentleness of summer light,

This Stream, my honour'd slave, possessed:
The blue flowers mirror'd in his breast,

And the meek lamps that sweeten night,

Had made his heart too mild to bear
With other than a gentle care,

And slow sad solemn pace, a load so violet-eyed and

22.