It may be that the gulfs will wash us down : We are not now that strength which in old days Made weak by time and fate, but strong in will To strive, to seek, to find, and not to yield. TITHONUS. THE Woods decay, the woods decay and fall, And after many a summer dies the swan. Consumes I wither slowly in thine arms, A white-hair'd shadow roaming like a dream Alas! for this gray shadow, once a man— So glorious in his beauty and thy choice, Who madest him thy chosen, that he seem'd To his great heart none other than a God! I ask'd thee, "Give me immortality." Then didst thou grant mine asking with a smile, Like wealthy men who care not how they give. But thy strong Hours indignant work'd their wills, And beat me down and marr'd and wasted me, And tho' they could not end me, left me maim'd To dwell in presence of immortal youth, Immortal age beside immortal youth, And all I was, in ashes. Can thy love, Thy beauty, make amends, tho' even now, Shines in those tremulous eyes that fill with tears Or pass beyond the goal of ordinance Where all should pause, as is most meet for all? A soft air fans the cloud apart; there comes Thy cheek begins to redden thro' the gloom, Which love thee, yearning for thy yoke, arise, Lo! ever thus thou growest beautiful Why wilt thou ever scare me with thy tears, And make me tremble lest a saying learnt, In days far-off, on that dark earth, be true? "The Gods themselves cannot recall their gifts." Ay me! ay me! with what another heart Changed with thy mystic change, and felt my blood Like that strange song I heard Apollo sing, Yet hold me not for ever in thine East : How can my nature longer mix with thine? Coldly thy rosy shadows bathe me, cold Are all thy lights, and cold my wrinkled feet Upon thy glimmering thresholds, when the steam Floats up from those dim fields about the homes Of happy men that have the power to die, And grassy barrows of the happier dead. Release me, and restore me to the ground; Thou seest all things, thou wilt see my grave: Thou wilt renew thy beauty morn by morn; I earth in earth forget these empty courts, And thee returning on thy silver wheels. |