IT is a sweet tradition, with a soul Of tenderest pathos! Hearken, love! -- for all The sacred undercurrents of the heart Thrill to its cordial music: Once, a chief, Philantus, king of Sparta, left the stern And bleak defiles of his unfruitful land -- Girt by a band of eager colonists -- To seek new homes on fair Italian plains. Apollo's oracle had darkly spoken: "@3Where'er from cloudless skies a plenteous shower Outpours, the Fates decree that ye should pause And rear your household deities!@1" Racked by doubt Philantus traversed with his faithful band Full many a bounteous realm; but still defeat Darkened his banners, and the strong-walled towns His desperate sieges grimly laughed to scorn! Weighed down by anxious thoughts, one sultry eve The warrior -- his rude helmet cast aside -- Rested his weary head upon the lap Of his fair wife, who loved him tenderly; And there he drank a generous draught of sleep. She, gazing on his brow all worn with toil And his dark locks, which pain had silvered over With glistening touches of a frosty rime, Wept on the sudden bitterly; her tears Fell on his face, and, wondering, he woke. "O blest art thou, my Aethra, @3my clear sky@1," He cried exultant, "from whose pitying blue A heart-rain falls to fertilize my fate: Lo! the deep riddle's solved -- the gods spake truth!" So the next night he stormed Tarentum, took The enemy's host at vantage, and o'er-threw His mightiest captains. Thence with kindly sway He ruled those pleasant regions he had won, -- But dearer even than his rich demesnes The love of her whose gentle tears unlocked The close-shut mystery of the Oracle! | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...BOTANICAL GARDENS by EDGAR LEE MASTERS TOMMY'S DEAD by SYDNEY THOMPSON DOBELL SONNET: TO HIS LUTE by WILLIAM DRUMMOND OF HAWTHORNDEN INVITATION TO LOVE by PAUL LAURENCE DUNBAR SPOON RIVER ANTHOLOGY: BENJAMIN PANTIER by EDGAR LEE MASTERS SIR JOHN FRANKLIN; ON THE CENTOTAPH IN WESTMINSTER ABBEY by ALFRED TENNYSON |