Índice Geral das Seções Índice da Seção Atual Índice da Obra Atual Anterior: 3. Uma Canção da Aurora no Verão Seguinte: 5. Três Entardeceres
(p. 16)
4.
HYLAS
THROUGH the valleys of Arganthus,
Through the whispering
woods and forests
Where the birds make
pleasant music
In among the swinging
branches,
Wandering came the youthful Hylas,
Hylas, fairer than the day-star.
Lightly o’er the trembling
grasses
Fell the gentle steps
of Hylas,
And the fitful sunlight
shimmered
Down upon his yellow
ringlets,
Till they kindled into
fire,
Like the golden rays
encircling
The
majestic brows of godhead.
By the margin of the
river
Paused to rest the
weary Hylas,
And the breeze with
noiseless footstep
Followed o’er the
yielding mosses,
(p. 17)
And among the floating
clusters
Of his golden curls she
whispered
Wanton sighs of love
and rapture.
Still he sat beside the
river,
Sat, and watched the
sunbeams playing
In between the woven
masses
Of the foliage nodding
o’er him:
Watched the sun with
golden helmet
Shining o’er his
crimson mantle,
Sinking in the hues of
evening,
Sinking in the western
purple;
Like the warrior god
victorious
Home returning from the
battle
To the far-off gates of
heaven!
Then upon the tender
mosses,
Hylas
laid his head and slumbered,
While the panting waves
beside him,
Drowsy in the purple
sunlight,
Rippled out their
sleepy music,
And the bending flags
and rushes
Hung their dreamy heads
and nodded;
And from the
transparent waters
Peeped the nymphs, the
timid naiads,
Peeped the lovely
blue-eyed daughters
Of the lonely Thynian river;
With their light robes
round them waving
In the fragrant breath
of evening,
(p. 18)
And their crispy golden
tresses
Floating downward like
the sunlight
On
the bosom of the river.
Slowly from the limpid
water
Bright with thousand
sunset glories
In its glassy depths
reflected,
Hand in hand the nymphs
ascended,
And with wondering
glances saw they
What fair form of
mortal seeming
Slept upon his mossy
pillow
By
the silent river margin.
Then they crept with
timid footstep
Softly in among the
feathered
Weeds and leaflets of
the shallows,
Twisted in and out in
clusters
Round
the couch where Hylas slumbered.
And awhile those lovely
maidens
Silent stood, and
wondered at him,
And for his fair face,
they loved him,
For his youth and
golden tresses,
For
his wondrous grace and sweetness.
So they loved and
longed to keep him,
Evermore to be their
playmate,
Down beneath the
sparkling waters,
Where all day the
tender sunlight
Sleeps among the reeds
and sedges,
In
the bosom of the river.
(p. 19)
Then in their white
arms they bore him
Wakened, wondering,
down the waters
Out into the deepening
current,
Singing as they floated
onward,
Many a song of wondrous
sweetness,
Like the songs of the
Immortals
Wafted through the
vales at even
From
the heights of far
Thus they floated down
the river,
Through the holy air of
evening,
Till they lost
themselves in sunlight,
In the flood of misty
radiance,
Till the music of their
voices
Faded wholly into
silence,
And the dreamy waves
sang only
On the pebbles of the
margin;
And above them, pallid
Vesper
Rising o’er the broad Propontis
Glimmered through the
bending branches,
And beheld them
floating westward,
Westward through the
fading purple,
Like the misty forms
that mingle
In
the phantasies of slumber.
Índice Geral das Seções Índice da Seção Atual Índice da Obra Atual Anterior: 3. Uma Canção Da Aurora No Verão Seguinte: 5. Três Entardeceres