Oenone

There lies a vale in Ida, lovelier
    Than all the valleys of Ionian hills.
    The swimming vapour slopes athwart the glen,
    Puts forth an arm, and creeps from pine to pine,
    And loiters, slowly drawn. On either hand
    The lawns and meadow-ledges midway down
    Hang rich in flowers, and far below them roars
    The long brook falling thro' the clov'n ravine
    In cataract after cataract to the sea.
   Behind the valley topmost Gargarus
   Stands up and takes the morning: but in front
   The gorges, opening wide apart, reveal
   Troas and Ilion's column'd citadel,
   The crown of Troas.         Hither came at noon
   Mournful Œnone, wandering forlorn
   Of Paris, once her playmate on the hills.
   Her cheek had lost the rose, and round her neck
   Floated her hair or seem'd to float in rest.
   She, leaning on a fragment twined with vine,
   Sang to the stillness, till the mountain-shade
   Sloped downward to her seat from the upper cliff.

   "O mother Ida, many-fountain'd Ida,
   Dear mother Ida, harken ere I die.
   For now the noonday quiet holds the hill:
   The grasshopper is silent in the grass:
   The lizard, with his shadow on the stone,
   Rests like a shadow, and the winds are dead.
   The purple flower droops: the golden bee
   Is lily-cradled: I alone awake.
   My eyes are full of tears, my heart of love,
   My heart is breaking, and my eyes are dim,
   And I am all aweary of my life.

   "O mother Ida, many-fountain'd Ida,
   Dear mother Ida, harken ere I die.
   Hear me, O Earth, hear me, O Hills, O Caves
   That house the cold crown'd snake! O mountain brooks,
   I am the daughter of a River-God,
   Hear me, for I will speak, and build up all
   My sorrow with my song, as yonder walls
   Rose slowly to a music slowly breathed,
   A cloud that gather'd shape: for it may be
   That, while I speak of it, a little while
   My heart may wander from its deeper woe.

       "O mother Ida, many-fountain'd Ida,
   Dear mother Ida, harken ere I die.
   I waited underneath the dawning hills,
   Aloft the mountain lawn was dewy-dark,
   And dewy-dark aloft the mountain pine:
   Beautiful Paris, evil-hearted Paris,
   Leading a jet-black goat white-horn'd, white-hooved,
   Came up from reedy Simois all alone.

       "O mother Ida, harken ere I die.
   Far-off the torrent call'd me from the cleft:
   Far up the solitary morning smote
   The streaks of virgin snow. With down-dropt eyes
   I sat alone: white-breasted like a star
   Fronting the dawn he moved; a leopard skin
   Droop'd from his shoulder, but his sunny hair
    Cluster'd about his temples like a God's:
   And his cheek brighten'd as the foam-bow brightens
   When the wind blows the foam, and all my heart
   Went forth to embrace him coming ere he came.

       "Dear mother Ida, harken ere I die.
   He smiled, and opening out his milk-white palm
   Disclosed a fruit of pure Hesperian gold,
   That smelt ambrosially, and while I look'd
   And listen'd, the full-flowing river of speech
   Came down upon my heart.      `My own Œnone,
   Beautiful-brow'd Œnone, my own soul,
   Behold this fruit, whose gleaming rind ingrav'n
   "For the most fair," would seem to award it thine,
   As lovelier than whatever Oread haunt
   The knolls of Ida, loveliest in all grace
   Of movement, and the charm of married brows.'

       "Dear mother Ida, harken ere I die.
   He prest the blossom of his lips to mine,
   And added 'This was cast upon the board,
   When all the full-faced presence of the Gods
   Ranged in the halls of Peleus; whereupon
   Rose feud, with question unto whom 'twere due:
   But light-foot Iris brought it yester-eve,
   Delivering that to me, by common voice
   Elected umpire, Herè comes to-day,
   Pallas and Aphroditè, claiming each
   This meed of fairest. Thou, within the cave
   Behind yon whispering tuft of oldest pine,
   Mayst well behold them unbeheld, unheard
   Hear all, and see thy Paris judge of Gods.'

   "Dear mother Ida, harken ere I die.
   It was the deep midnoon: one silvery cloud
   Had lost his way between the piney sides
   Of this long glen. Then to the bower they came,
   Naked they came to that smooth-swarded bower,
   And at their feet the crocus brake like fire,
   Violet, amaracus, and asphodel,
   Lotos and lilies: and a wind arose,
   And overhead the wandering ivy and vine,
  This way and that, in many a wild festoon