Undertones

16.

Then writhed the roots of forest trees

In tortuous fear, till tremblingly

Green leaves quaked round her. A sharp cry Went upward from the Oreades;

Low murmurs woke in bower and cave,

With diapason in the wave:

The River eddied darkly round, obeying as a slave.

17.

Half stooping downward, while she held
A flower in loosening fingers light;
The quick pink fading from the white
Upon her cheek; with eyes that welled
Dark pansy thoughts from veins that dart

Like restless snakes round the honied heart,

And balmy breath that mildly blew her rose-leaf lips apart,

10.

And I was 'ware that overhead

Walk'd one whose very motion sent

A sweet immortal wonderment

Thro' the deep dwellings of the Dead,

And flush'd the seams of cavern and mine

To gleams of gold and diamond shine,

And made the misty dews shoot up to kiss her feet divine.

11.

By Zeus, the beat of those soft feet
Thrill'd to the very roots of Hell,
Troubling the mournful streams that fell

Like snakes from out my brazen seat :

Faint music reach'd me strange and slow,

My conscious Throne gleam'd pale as snow,

A beauteous vision vaguely fill'd the dusky glass

below.

12.

When I beheld in that dark glass

The phantom of a lonely maid,

Who gather'd flowers in a green glade
Knee-deep in dewy meadow-grass,

And on a riverside. Behold,

The sun that robed her round with gold,

Mirror'd beneath me wondrously, loom'd white and round and cold.

13.

Soft yellow hair that curl'd and clang
Throbbed to her feet in softest showers,

And as she went she gather'd flowers,

And as she gather'd flowers she sang :

It floated down my sulphurous eaves,

That faint sweet song of flowers and leaves,

Of vineyards, gushing purple wines, and yellow slanted.

sheaves.

14.

Darkling I mutter'd, "It were choice.
Proudly to throne in solemn cheer
So fair a queen, and ever to hear

Such song from so divine a voice!"

And with the wish I upward breathed

A mist of fire that swiftly seethed

Thro' shuddering earth-seams overhead, and round her

warm knees wreathed.

15.

Whereon the caves of precious stones

Grew bright as moonlight thrown on death,
And red gold brighten'd, and the breath
Drew greenness moist from fleshless bones;

And every cave was murmuring :

"O River, cease to flow and sing,

And bear the tall bride on thy banks to the footstool

of thy king!"

16.

Then writhed the roots of forest trees
In tortuous fear, till tremblingly

Green leaves quaked round her.

Went upward from the Oreades ;

A sharp cry