That Pan is at his piping still.

FAVORITES OF PAN

Once, long ago, before the gods

Had left this earth, by stream and forest glade,

Where the first plough upturned the clinging sods,

Or the lost shepherd strayed,

Often to the tired listener's ear

There came at noonday or beneath the stars

A sound, he knew not whence, so sweet and clear,

That all his aches and scars

And every brooded bitterness,

Fallen asunder from his soul took flight,

Like mist or darkness yielding to the press

Of an unnamed delight,—

[12]

A sudden brightness of the heart,

A magic fire drawn down from Paradise,

That rent the cloud with golden gleam apart,—

And far before his eyes

The loveliness and calm of earth

 Prev. P 10/70 next