And we know not yet of the word unwritten,

The doom of the Pythian we have not heard;

From the navel of earth and the veiled mid altar

160

We wait for a token with hopes that falter,

With fears that hang on our hearts thought-smitten

Lest her tongue be kindled with no good word.

[Str. 2.

O thou not born of the womb, nor bred

In the bride-night's warmth of a changed God's bed,

But thy life as a lightning was flashed from the light of thy father's head,

[Pg 9]

O chief God's child by a motherless birth,

If aught in thy sight we indeed be worth,

Keep death from us thou, that art none of the Gods of the dead under earth.

[Ant. 2.

Thou that hast power on us, save, if thou wilt;

170

Let the blind wave breach not thy wall scarce built;

But bless us not so as by bloodshed, impute not for grace to us guilt,

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