Poetry Explorer- Classic Contemporary Poetry, APHRODITE, by JOHN STERLING (1806-1844)


Poetry Explorer

Classic and Contemporary Poetry

APHRODITE, by                     Poet's Biography
First Line: A spring-time eve illumined wide
Last Line: On those adoring there.
Subject(s): Aphrodite; Mythology - Classical


I.

A SPRING-TIME eve illumined wide
A sunny Grecian land,
Where peace was guarded valiantly
By many a spearman's hand;
From field and vineyard home return'd
The weary peasant crew,
And children laugh'd and leap'd to see
Their fathers come in view.

II.

The closing twilight dimly fell
Above the smoking roofs;
The labourers' eyes dropp'd heavily;
The housewives left their woofs;
While softly flew the western breeze
Above the woods and streams,
But breathed too low to sound amid
The slumberers' easy dreams.

III.

As on each lonely silent hearth
The blaze was flickering low,
The shaggy wolf-dog stretch'd himself
Before the crimson glow;
And shy nocturnal visitants,
And horny-footed Pan,
Through all the village wander'd slow
To guard the rest of man.

IV.

The mourners felt it comfort now
That they were free to weep,
And in their musing youthful minds
Went smilingly to sleep;
And some in joyous vision sought
The dance in flowery glades,
And some a tenderer delight,
Unseen in forest shades.

V.

Yet one of all the loveliest,
Young Myrto, sought not rest,
By crowding fancies kept awake
That flutter'd in her breast,
While mid the pillar'd porch she sat
Of her old sire's abode,
Unheeding that beneath the stars
Her zoneless bosom glow'd.

VI.

She stoop'd her head, whose tresses hid
Her clench'd and trembling hand;
She felt her heart swell proudlier
Than in its purple band;
And such the rippling stir of life
Upon her earnest face,
It seem'd a stormy spirit fill'd
A form of marble grace.

VII.

"And let," she thought, "the poet bear
His sounding lyre and song,
And still through temple, field, and mart
My tuneful fame prolong;
For if I but repay the strain
With word or look of praise,
'T is then the last of love and verse,
The first of slavery's days.

VIII.

"Then with the boisterous wedding comes
The dark, unhonour'd life;
The worshipp'd goddess, fading then,
Is known an earthly wife;
And all the longing sighs that now
In all its utterance play,
But like a tedious burden round
An old-remember'd lay.

IX.

"And if at last from long disdain,
And cold, averted eyes,
To other lands and cities now
The bard in anguish flies,
To other springs, and hills, and woods,
And other ears than these,
My name in melody will sound,
And sail on distant seas.

X.

"And if in cave, or desert path,
Or at triumphal feast,
The journeying minstrel sinks in death,
From hopeless toil released;
Upon his tomb be this inscribed, --
That he for Myrto died;
And let his last lament record
Her beauty and her pride."

XI.

So flow'd the unpitying virgin's thought,
When pierced the laurel shade
A voice, that struck with dread and joy
The bosom of the maid.
Unseen the man, but known how well!
And while he breathed a song,
His harp-string help'd with sweeter grief
His overburden'd tongue.

XII.

"Once more, beloved maid! I strive
To touch thy frozen ear,
And wake the hopes so often'd chill'd
Upon the lap of fear.
Once more, alas! I seek to stir
A heart of human mould
With throbs of nature's pulse, that has
Sweet throbbings manifold.

XIII.

"And oh! bethink thee, icy breast!
How vain the thought of pride
Which bids thee from my pleading turn
In sullenness aside;
How weak and cheap a thing it is,
But oh! how rich in good
The joy of hearts, when each to each
Reveals its fondest mood.

XIV.

"E'en hadst thou given some rival's head
The flowery wreath of love,
Thy scorn of me men would not hate,
Nor would the gods reprove.
In words of bitter wrathfulness
My grief might urge its way,
But every curse invoked on thee
Would make my soul its prey.

XV.

"Oh! give me but one whisper'd word,
Or gently wave thy hand:
Bestow but this on him whose life
Thy very looks command.
The light of youth that gilds thee now
Will not be always thine,
But thou may'st bid in deathless song
Thy beauty's radiance shine.

XVI.
"Thou speak'st no mild relenting word!
So part we, I and thou,
To whom so oft in misery
Has bent my laurell'd brow.
The gods that favour song and love
Will not be mock'd in vain,
And higher they, proud Rock! than thou!
To them I lift my strain."

XVII.
The minstrel turn'd his steps away,
And moved with hurrying feet,
Till past the slumberous gloom that fill'd
The lonely village street;
And through the vale beyond he fled,
And near the rocky shore,
And climb'd the winding wooded path
That up the mountain bore.

XVIII.
The silent stars were gazing all,
The moon was up the sky,
And from below the tranquil sea
Sent measured sounds on high;
It broke beneath a steep ascent,
Where Aphrodite's fane
Appear'd a home of steadfast calm
For wanderers o'er the main.

XIX.
And thither bent the bard his course,
Until the rugged way
Subdued his desperate recklessness
To an abhorr'd delay;
And, pausing mid his haste, the thought
Of her he left behind
Brought tears into his burning eyes,
And check'd his fiercer mind.

XX.
Yet soon he reach'd the terraced height,
The spot the goddess chose,
Where channell'd pillars round and strong
At equal spaces rose;
Above were graven tablets fair,
With gaps of dark between,
And o'er the deep receding porch
Celestial forms were seen.

XXI.
And soon he gain'd the marble steps,
Before the abode divine,
And soon he oped the brazen doors,
And sank within the shrine;
'Twas dusk, and chill, and noiseless all,
And scarce amid the shade
He saw the form of her whose might
Can give the hopeless aid.

XXII.
"And why," he cried, "O Goddess dread!
Must worshippers of thee,
Mid all on earth the most despised,
Most miserable be?
Oh! hast thou not the strength to save,
Or art thou then indeed
Too cold and too averse a power
To succour mortal need?

XXIII.
"And is it false what oft was said
In days of old renown,
What hymn and lay so loud proclaim
In camp, and field, and town,
That thou, a bounteous arbitress,
Wilt hear when mourners call,
Delightest most in man's delight,
And sendest bliss to all?

XXIV.

"By thee, as tale and history tell,
And sculptured marble gray,
And oracle and festal rite,
Surviving men's decay;
By thee all things are beautiful,
And peaceable, and strong,
And joy from every throe is born,
And mercy conquers wrong.

XXV.
"Thy birth, O Goddess kind and smooth,
Was from the sunny sea,
The crystal blue and milky foam
In brightness cradled thee;
From thee all fairest things have light,
Which they to men impart;
Then whence arise the pangs and storms
That rend the lover's heart?"

XXVI.
'Twas thus the sorrowing bard address'd
That presence blind and dim,
Startling the visionary space,
That had no help for him;
But then he raised in haste his eyes,
For lo! a sudden ray
Around the goddess cast a light,
Her own peculiar day.

XXVII.

A living form behold she stood,
Of more than sculptured grace!
The high immortal queen from heaven,
The calm Olympian face!
Eyes pure from human tear or smile,
Yet ruling all on earth,
And limbs whose garb of golden air
Was dawn's primeval birth!

XXVIII.

With tones like music of a lyre,
Continuous, piercing, low,
The sovran lips began to speak,
Spoke on in liquid flow;
It seem'd the distant ocean's voice,
Brought near and shaped to speech,
But breathing with a sense beyond
What words of man may reach.

XXIX.

"Weak child! Not I the puny power
Thy wish would have me be,
A rose-leaf floating with the wind
Upon a summer sea.
If such thou need'st, go range the fields,
And hunt the gilded fly,
And when it mounts above thy head,
Then lay thee down and die.

XXX.

The spells which rule in earth and stars
Each mightiest thought that lives,
Are stronger than the kiss a child
In sudden fancy gives.
They cannot change, or fail, or fade,
Nor deign o'er aught to sway
Too weak to suffer and to strive,
And tired while still 'tis day.

XXXI.

"And thou with better wisdom learn
The ancient lore to scan,
Which tells that first in ocean's breast
My rule o'er all began;
And know that not in breathless noon
Upon the glassy main
The power was born that taught the world
To hail her endless reign.

XXXII.

"The winds were loud, the waves were high,
In drear eclipse the sun
Was crouch'd within the caves of heaven,
And light had scarce begun.
The earth's green front lay drown'd below
And Death and Chaos fought
O'er all the tumult vast of things
Not yet to severance brought.

XXXIII.

"'Twas then that spoke the fateful voice,
And mid the huge uproar,
Above the dark I sprang to life,
A good unhoped before.
My tresses waved along the sky,
And stars leap'd out around,
And earth beneath my feet arose,
And hid the pale profound.

XXXIV.

"A lamp amid the night, a feast
That ends the strife of war;
To wearied mariners a port,
To fainting limbs a car;
To exiled men the friendly roof,
To mourning hearts the lay;
To him who long has roam'd by night
The sudden dawn of day;

XXXV.

"All these are mine, and mine the bliss
That visits breasts in wo,
And fills with wine the cup that once
With tears was made to flow.
Nor question thou the help that comes
From Aphrodite's hand;
For madness dogs the bard who doubts
Whate'er the gods command."

XXXVI.

With lull'd and peaceful sense the youth
Upon the marble floor
Reclined his head, nor wist he how
His bosom's pangs were o'er.
Before the statue's graven base
He sank in happy rest,
But visions plain as noonday truth
Came swiftly o'er his breast.

XXXVII.

For in the unmoving body's trance,
When ear and eye are still,
The mind prophetic wakes and yearns,
And moulds the unconscious will;
The silent sleeper's heart is near
The steadfast heart of all,
And sights to outward view denied
Obey the spirit's call.

XXXVIII.

The radiant goddess changed her look
Of clear and mild control:
A gloomy fury seem'd she now,
A tyrant o'er the soul.
With furrow'd face and deadly glance
Like storm she swept away,
And still the minstrel saw the fiend
Pursuing swift her prey.

XXXIX.

And now she reach'd the chamber fair,
The ancient home's recess,
Where wearied Myrto lay asleep
In dreamy restlessness.
The lover saw the grisly sprite
Beside her couch appear,
And but for power that held him fast
He would have shriek'd in fear.

XL.

The thoughts within the virgin heart
Took shapes that he could spell,
Like pictures visible and clear,
The maiden's tale they tell;
And doubt is there, and pride, and love
In fluctuating stir,
And many a memory of him,
And songs he framed for her.

XLI.

The fair brow quivers fast and oft,
The smooth lips work and wane,
And hand, and cheek, and bosom thrill,
And writhe as if in pain;
And then in wan dismay she wakes,
And sees beside her bed
The spectral ghastliness whose gaze
Fills all the air with dread.

XLII.

She starts, and screams -- Oh! spare me, spare
I know thy torments well,
To punish fierce insatiate pride
Thou comest to me from hell.
Forgive, beloved! return from death!
And soon thou shalt avow,
That she whose scorn was once so cold
Can love no less than thou.

XLIII.

"But, oh! dark demon, if in vain
I pray the gods for aid,
Swift let me join my vanish'd love
In thy domain of shade;
And take these horrid eyes away,
So pitiless and hard,
I cannot bear the looks that oft
I bent upon the bard."

XLIV.

She turn'd and hid her tearful face,
And sighs convulsive rose,
And broke the charm that chain'd the youth
In motionless repose.
But still with waking ear he caught
The groans of Myrto's pain,
For she herself before him lay
Within the sacred fane.

XLV.

He clasp'd her quick, and held her close
Upon his bounding breast,
With tears and kisses warm'd her cheek,
And knew that he was blest.
And now the maid forgiveness ask'd,
Now upward look'd and smiled,
And, firmlier knit by sorrow past,
Their hearts were reconciled.

XLVI.

The golden sun sublime arose,
And fill'd the shrine with day,
The earth in gladness open'd wide,
And green the valley lay;
Serenely bright the goddess glow'd
Amid the purpled air,
And look'd with gracious eyes benign
On those adoring there.





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