{"collection":"myth-cosmogony","full_text_available":true,"graph_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/v2/api/page/wikisource_Orion_Book_III_Canto_III/graph","html_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/v2/page/wikisource_Orion_Book_III_Canto_III","id":"wikisource_Orion_Book_III_Canto_III","license":"Public Domain / CC-BY-SA (see source)","rights_basis":"wikisource_site_inclusion_policy","source":"wikisource","source_url":"https://en.wikisource.org/wiki/Orion/Book_III/Canto_III","summary":null,"tags":["Subpages"],"text":"ORION.\n\nCanto the Third.\n\nStrong Spirit of Nature! if with pious hand,\nOf all humanity sensitive, and true\nTo the first heart of childhood, thou hast striven\nGood to effect, and seemingly hast failed,\nLament it not; that impulse on the frame\nOf the dense earth, which no result displays,\nEffect or consciousness, not utterly\nShall turn aside, and glancing into space\nBe lost and cast away. As with a thought\nThat, dormant in the brain well nigh a score\nOf years, will suddenly, we know not how,\nRise bright before the mind, thus recognized\nAs that so long forgotten,\u2014while two brains\nEntire, have their material parts used up,\nGiven off, and changed for new;\u2014so shall the deeds\nOf virtuous power, in their appointed day,\nRise with due strength above the buried hand\nThat called them first to light. Know this, and hope:\nThe earth has hard rind, but a subtle heart.\nTherefore amidst those shadows, by no form\nProjected; which in secret regions flit,\nOf future being, through unnumbered states,\nWhich are most truly the substantial dreams,\nNor less the aspirations most unearthly,\nOf man; shadows oft hunted, never caught,\nYet traced beyond the grave; to thought well known;\nAmidst these shadows stride not thou forlorn,\nO Giant sublime, whom death shall not destroy.\n\n'T was eve, and Time his vigorous course pursuing,\nMet Akinetos walking by the sea.\nAt sight of him the Father of the Hours\nPaused on the sand,\u2014which shrank, grew moist, and trembled\nAt that unwonted pressure of the God.\nAnd thus with look and accent stern, he spake.\n\n\"Thou art the mortal who, with hand unmoved,\nEatest the fruit of others' toil; whose heart\nIs but a vital engine that conveys\nBlood, to no purpose, up and down thy frame;\nWhose forehead is a large stone sepulchre\nOf knowledge; and whose life but turns to waste\nMy measured hours, and earth's material!\"\n\nWhereto the Great Unmoved no answer made,\nAnd Time continued, sterner than before.\n\"Thy sire, Tithonos, living nine score years,\nKnew many things; but when thou wert begot,\nOlympos chimed with crystal laughter bright,\nSince, for thy mother, his dim vision chose\nA fallen statue which he deemed a nymph,\nWhite as a flint amid a field of corn.\nI warn thee by that memory!\u2014thou mistakest\nA prostrate stone for the fair truth of life.\"\n\nWhereto the Great Unmoved no answer made,\nAnd Time continued, sterner than before.\n\"O, not-to-be-approved! thou Apathy,\nWho gazest downward on that empty shell,\u2014\nIs it for thee who bear'st the common lot\nOf man, and art his brother in the fields,\nFrom birth to funeral pyre; is it for thee,\nWho didst derive from thy long-living sire\nMore knowledge than endows far better sons,\u2014\nThy lamp to burn within, and turn aside\nThy face from all humanity, or behold it\nWithout emotion, like some sea-shelled thing\nStaring around from a green hollowed rock,\nNot aiding, loving, caring\u2014hoping aught\u2014\nForgetting nature, and by her forgot.\"\n\nWhereto, with mildness, Akinetos said,\n\"Hast thou considered of Eternity?\"\n\"Profoundly have I done so, in my youth;\"\nChronos replied, and bowed his furrowed head;\n\"Most, when my tender feet from Chaos trod\nStumbling, and doubtful of mine eyes, my hands\nThe dazzling air explored. But, since that date,\nSo many ages have I told; so many,\nFleet after fleet on newly opening seas,\nDescry before me, that of late my thoughts\nHave rather dwelt on all around my path,\nWith anxious care. Well were it thus with thee.\"\n\nThen Akinetos calmly spake once more,\nWith eyes still bent upon the tide-ribbed sands.\n\"And dost thou of Tomorrow also think?\"\nWhereat\u2014as one dismayed by sudden thought\nOf many crowding things that call him thence,\u2014\nTime, with bent brows, went hurrying on his way.\n\nSlow towards his cave the Great Unmoved repaired,\nAnd, with his back against the rock, sat down\nOutside, half smiling in the pleasant air;\nAnd in the lonely silence of the place,\nHe thus, at length, discoursed unto himself.\n\n\"Orion, ever active and at work,\nHonest and skilful, not to be surpassed,\nBrought misery on himself and those he loved;\nCaused his companions' death,\u2014and now hath found\nAt Artemis' hand, his own. So fares it ever\nWith the world's builder. He, from wall to beam,\nFrom pillar to roof, from shade to corporal form;\nFrom the first vague Thought to the Temple vast,\nA ceaseless contest with the crowd endures,\nFor whom he labours. Why then should we move?\nOur wisdom cannot change whate'er's decreed,\nNor e'en the acts or thoughts of brainless men.\nWhy then be moved? Best reason is most vain.\nHe who will do and suffer, must\u2014and end.\nHence, death is not an evil, since it leads\nTo somewhat permanent, beyond the noise\nMan maketh on the tabor of his will,\nUntil the small round burst, and pale he falls.\nHis ear is stuffed with the grave's earth, yet feels\nThe inaudible whispers of Eternity,\nWhile Time runs shouting to Oblivion\nIn the upper fields. I would not swell that cry.\"\n\nThus Akinetos sat from day to day,\nAbsorbed in indolent sublimity,\nReviewing thoughts and knowledge o'er and o'er;\nAnd now he spake, now sung unto himself,\nNow sank to brooding silence. From above,\nWhile passing, Time the rock touched!\u2014and it oozed\nPetrific drops\u2014gently at first\u2014and slow.\nReclining lonely in his fixt repose,\nThe Great Unmoved unconsciously became\nAttached to that he pressed; and soon a part\nOf the rock. There clung the excrescence, till strong hands,\nDescended from Orion, made large roads,\nAnd built steep walls, squaring down rocks for use.\n\nNow had Poseidon with tridental spear\nTorn up the smitten sea, which raged on high\nWith grief and anger for Orion slain;\nAnd black Heph\u00e6stos deep beneath the earth\nA cold thrill felt through his metallic veins,\nWhich soon with sparkling fire began to writhe\nLike serpents, till from each volcanic peak\nBurst smoke and threatening flames. Day hid his head,\nAnd while the body of Orion sunk,\nDrawn down into the embraces of the sea,\nThe four Winds with confronting fury arose,\nAnd to a common centre drove their blasts,\nWhich, meeting, brake like thunder-stone, or shells\nOf war, far scattering. Shipwreck fed the deep.\nNo moon had dared the ringing vault to climb;\nNo star, no meteor's steed; and ancient Night\nShook the dishevelled lightning from her brows,\nThen sank in deeper gloom. Ere long the roar\nRolled through a distant yawning chasm of flame,\nDying away, and in the air obscure,\nFeverish and trembling,\u2014like the breath of one\nRecovering from convulsion's throes,\u2014appeared\nTwo wavering misty shapes upon a mount:\nWhence now a solemn and reproachful voice,\nWith broken pauses spake, and thus lamented.\n\n\"Call it not love!\u2014oh never yet for thee\nDid Love's ambrosial pinions fan the hours,\nTo lose themselves in bliss, which memory\nAlone can find, so to renew their life.\nThou couldst not ever thus enjoy, thus give\nThy nature fully up; thine attributes,\nWhate'er of loveliness or high estate\nThey owned, surrendering all before Love's feet,\nAnd in his breath to melt. How shall we name\nThy passion,\u2014ice-pure, self-entire, exacting\nAll worship, for a limited return?\nBut how, ah me! shall Time record the hour,\nWhen with thy bow\u2014its points curved stiffly back,\nLike a snake's neck preparing for a spring,\nThou stood'st in lurid ire behind a cloud,\nAnd loosed the fatal shaft! Where then was Love?\nO Artemis! O miserable Queen!\nCall it pride, jealousy, revenge\u2014self-love;\nNo other. Thou repliest not. Wherefore pride?\nThou gav'st thyself that wound, rejecting one\nWho to thee tendered all his nature; noble,\nThough earth-born, as thou knew'st when first ye met,\nAnd thou not Zeus with a creator's power\nHis being to re-make? Thou answerest not.\nWhy jealous, but because thou saw'st him happy\nWithout thee, though cast off by thee. Then wherefore\nDestroy? Revenge, the champion of self-love,\nCan make his well-known sign. O, horrible!\nDespair to all springs up from murdered love,\nAnd smites revenge with idiotcy of grief,\nSeeing itself. But wake, and look upon\nMy loss unutterable. What hast thou gained?\nNothing but anguish; and for this accomplished\nHis death, my loss, and the earth's loss beside\nOf that much needed hand. I curse thee not\u2014\nThou hast, indeed, cursed me\u2014thou know'st it well.\"\n\nWith face bowed o'er her bosom, Artemis,\nAs in sad trance, remained. The night was gone;\nThe day had dawned, but she perceived it not;\nNor Eos knew that any light had passed\nFrom her rent robes. But hope unconsciously\nGrew up in her, and yet again she spake.\n\n\"Ah, me! alas! why came this great affliction,\nWhich, indeed, seems beyond all remedy,\nThough scalding tears from our immortal eyes'\nMake constant arcs in heaven. Beauty avails not\nWhere power is needed. Seek we, then, for power,\nThat some reviving or renewing beam\nMay call him back, now pale in the deep sea.\nThou answerest not. I think thou hast a heart,\nWhich beats thy reasoning down to silent truth,\nAnd therefore deem I thou with me wilt seek\nThe throne of Zeus, who may receive our prayers,\nNor from our supplications, utterly\nTake sorrow's sweetness, which hath secret hope,\nLike honey drops in some down-fallen flower.\"\n\nHer lofty pallid visage, Artemis\nRaised slowly, but with eyes still downward bent\nUpon the ocean rolling dark below,\nAnd answered,\u2014\"I will go with thee.\" The twain\nDeparted heavily on their ascent\nThrough the grey air, and paused not till they reached\nThe region of Olympos, where their course\nWas barriered by a mass of angry cloud\nPiled up in surging blackness, with a gleam\nOf smouldering red seen through at intervals.\nThe sign well understood, both Goddesses\nKnelt down before the cloud, and Artemis\nBroke silence first, with firm yet hollow voice.\n\n\"Father of Gods, and of the populous earth!\nWho know'st the thoughts and deeds we most would hide;\nAnd also know'st the secret thrill within,\nWhich owns no thought nor action, yet comprises\nLife's sole excuse for what seems worthiest hate\u2014\nExtremes and maddened self-opposing springs\u2014-\nNot always thus excused,\u2014O Zeus! receive\nOur prayers, and chiefly mine, which pardon sue,\nBesides the dear request. Grant that the life\nOf him these hands, once dazzling white, have slain,\nMay be to earth restored.\" More had she said,\nBut the dark pile of cloud shook with the voice\nOf Zeus, who answered: \"He shall be restored;\nBut not returned to earth. His cycle moves\nAscending!\" The deep sea the announcement heard;\nAnd from beneath its ever-shifting thrones,\nThe murmuring of a solemn joy sent up.\n\nThe cloud expanded darkly o'er the heavens,\nWhich, like a vault preparing to give back\nThe heroic dead, yawned with its sacred gloom,\nAnd iron-crowned Night her black breath poured around\nTo meet the clouds that from Olympos rolled\nBillows of darkness with a dirging roar,\nWhich by gradations of high harmony\nMerged in triumphal strains. Their earnest eyes\nFilled with the darkness, and their hands still clasped,\nKneeling the Goddesses bright rays perceived,\nReflected, glance before them. Mute they rose\nWith tender consciousness; and, hand in hand,\nTurning, they saw slow rising from the sea\nThe luminous Giant clad in blazing stars,\nNew-born and trembling from their Maker's breath,\u2014\nDivine, refulgent effluence of Love.\nWith pale gold shield, like a translucent moon\nThrough which the morning with ascending cheek\nSheds a soft blush, warming cerulean veins;\nWith radiant belt of glory, typical\nOf happy change that o'er the zodiac round\nOf the world's monstrous phantasies shall come;\nAnd in his hand a sword of peaceful power,\nStreaming like a meteor to direct the earth\nTo victory over life's distress, and shew\nThe future path whose light runs through death's glooms;\nIn grandeur, like the birth of Motion, rose\nThe glorious Giant, tow'rds his place in heaven;\nAnd, while ascending, thus his Spirit sung.\n\n\"I came into the world a mortal creature,\nLights flitting upwards through my unwrought clay,\nNot knowing what they were, nor whither tending,\nBut of some goodness conscious in my soul.\nWith earth's rude elements my first endeavour\nI made; attained rare mastery, and was proud:\nThen felt strange longings in the grassy woodlands,\nAnd hunted shadows under the slant sun.\n\n\"O Artemis! bright queen! high benefactress!\nMy love forgive, that with its human feet\nCould not to thy pure altitude ascend,\nNor couldst thou stoop to me. A fiery passion,\nDeep as mortality, possessed my life;\nNor shall I from my destiny, star bright\nHenceforth, and from transforming change exempt,\nBanish the grateful thoughts of Merope,\nThough blindness followed that ecstatic dream.\"\n\n\"On thee I gaze, blest Goddess of the Morning!\nIn whose sweet smile these stars shall ever melt,\nAll human beauty perfected in thee,\nDivine with human blending. In my heart\nBared full before thee, to the essence fine\nWherewith, by whisperings of my Maker's breath,\nThese stars of my new life are now inspired\u2014\nIn this pure essence shall thy treasured love\nReceive my adoration; and the thoughts\nOf thee shall open ever in my mind\nLike the bland meads in flower when thou appear'st.\"\n\n\"Thou Earth, whom I have left, and all my brothers!\nFollowers of Time through steep and thorny ways;\nWrestlers with strong Calamity, and falling\nFor ever, as with generations new\nYe carry on the strife,\u2014deem it no loss\nThat in full vigour of his fresh designs,\nYour Worker and your Builder hath been called\nTo rest thus undesired. Though for himself\nToo soon, and not enough of labour done\nFor high desires; sufficient yet to give\nThe impulse ye are fitted to receive:\nMore, were a vain ambition. Therefore strive\nMy course, without its blindness, to pursue,\nSo that ye may through night, as ye behold me,\nAnd also through the day by faithful hope,\nAscend to me; and he who faints half-way,\nGains yet a noble eminence o'er those\nWhose feet still plod the earth with hearts o'erdusted.\"\n\n\"Then with aspiring love behold Orion!\nNot for his need, but for thine own behoof:\nHe loved thy race, and calls thee to his side.\nThe human spirit is a mounting thing,\nBut ere it reach the constellated thrones,\nIt may attain, and on mankind bestow,\nSubstance, precision, mastery of hand,\nBeauty intense, and power that shapes new life.\nSo shall each honest heart become a champion,\nEach high-wrought soul a builder beyond Time\u2014\nThe ever-hunted, ne'er o'ertaken Time,\nFor whom so many youthful hours are slain\nVainly: (the grave's brink shews we have been deceived,\nAnd still the aged God his flight maintains!)\nBut not in vain the earth-born shall pursue,\nE'en though with wayward, often stumbling feet,\nThat substance-bearing Shadow, if with a soul\nThat to an absolute unadulterate truth\nAspires, and would make active through the world,\nHe hath resolved to plant for future years\u2014\nAnd thus, in the end, each soul may to itself,\nWith truth before it as its polar guide,\nBecome both Time and Nature, whose fixt paths\nAre spiral, and when lost will find new stars,\nAnd in the Universal Movement join.\"\n\nThe song ceased; and at once a chorus burst\nFrom all the stars in heaven, which now shone forth!\nThe Moon ascends in her 'rapt loveliness;\nThe Ocean swells to her forgivingly;\nBright conies the dawn, and Eos hides her face,\nGlowing with tears divine, within the bosom\nOf great Poseidon, in his rocking car\nStanding erect to gaze upon his son,\nInstalled 'midst golden fires, which ever melt\nIn Eos' breath and beauty; rising still\nWith nightly brilliance, merging in the dawn,\nAnd circling onward in eternal youth.","title":"Orion/Book III/Canto III","tradition":"myth-cosmogony","translated_text":null,"word_count":2612}