The Portland daily press. [volume] (Portland, Me.) 1862-1921, 1882-02-27

Ghosts out Of Hades the singer, with heart that net
weakens or blenches,
Calls from the asphodel fields, thin-volced, with
death in their eyes,
Drinking in life from the blood OF his song, % Of
old In the trenches
He, the wodd-wanderlng lord, Ulysses, saw spirits
arise.
Pale as lily might blossom, Pandora unveiled to
his vision,
lowered with her manifold gift Ia sent OF the in-
mortals again,
Dream-led to love and to loss, desolate whom her
decision
Evil for gooi having chosen. left only hope to re-
main.
What love were greater than his who took from the
heavens their fire,
Fire in his hands for the sake feutless and thank
less, of men?
Broken and bound he was left, his heart unfulalsd
of desire
Prey of the pitiless beax that tore him again Aaa
again
Liberty fire of the gods take thou the elect Of thy
leading
Even unto death and more-alive, unto hatred and
shamei
Surely with no gift less the time of thy triumph
comes speeding:
Are not the hearts of them torn who onlishtsa the
world with thy flame?
Strong were the strange gods of old, images craven
in golden
Songs that are sweet in our ears made glad In the
newer time,
Yet which among all the gods 50 high Of our hearts
shall be holden
As this man Prometheus that fell daring too greatly
to climb
Star is arisen in power, and the day OF the gods b
completed,
Laughter and light of Olympus and shadows Of
Hades at one
Yet foied and failed of DESIRE his strength and hn
striving defeated,
After his torture and toll, Prometheus lies crowned
on his stonell
Here now within the walside hostelry
The travellers rest awhile. The singers stories
OF ancient legends lighted with the gloriss
OF moonlit mists new.woyen of poesy.
Surely the liking and the praise would win
Of the dear pilgrim of the Tabard Inn,
Our master Geoffrey Chaucer, bright first bird
That hailed the April sun of English ssng
With his high note of rapture, lovely and long,
And gave his glad voice clearly to be heard
Past all the ciamor of years that were and are.
. The song as swift and sweet as morning light
Ofhm that loved the JloDres rede and white,
And made the daisy deathless as a star.
What vision of power is this? What awful ghost
Clothed in the singing robes and wreath9 His eyes
Hold light and shadow of DEATH and after death
Judgment, dividing flowers of Paradise
From poisonous weeds ripe for the fire. What mlth
Dante Alighieri, of whose Tuscan tongue
No harmony is lost
In the large music of the latter song.
And with what holier fire
Is sung the Tragedy more divine and higher
Is this then Taule,
Beset with band
of waves unruly
That harry the strand
When the sea from the north comes raging 10
threaten the life of the land?
Where the last land facing
Against the sea,
The feet waves racing
With waves that fee,
Are a-foam as the mouths of wild horses that a~
violent and fret to be free
land Swallowed with wings
Where the seal birds resort
And the wet sea-weed clings
And its rocks a fort,
And the ship of the sailor is anchored at last in the
ultimate port.
For so saith the singer
And though at his word
Denial must linger
And doubt be unheard
AS the querulous chrp of the locust Is lost In the
chant of the bird
Yet the honor and name
In mems heart having root,
With broad branches of fame,
Golden praises for fruit,
Are of him as lord of Atlantis, where the sea
strikes the shore like Lutte.
Like Lutte silver-wired
In the seas soft hands,
Foreseen and desired
And sought of all lands,
The Paradise Earthly, the island where the garden
ofHesperus stands.
Or of Thule the lone
Sea-girt isle shall he have
Crown of kingship and throne
Looking forth to the wave,
I'd the cup in his hands shall be holden his Lay
of Foesy gave.
BY his hands half-diyine
Is the golden cup crowned
With his songs purple wine,
And bis praises resound
AS the heart of the people reoices for sake Of tho
cup he sends round.
As the numberless sands
That the high tides heap,
Be the days while his hands
The gold cup shall keep
Ere it sink through the darkness OF waters, be Lost
in the streams of the Deep
Sing unto him. honor and praise him, city, thy son
and thy foremost of fame;
Be glad for him, place of his birth,
Have joy for the sake OF the day he was bora. and
the years that have made him name
With singer, the mightiest of earth.
Let honor and love be as one in thy speech of hI~
even as the fire and the light
Are twofold and one of the sun;
Set song in thy mouth let thine heart be upiftsa,
thine eyes be illumed for the sight
OF the worlds praise thy poet has won.
Not loveer not lordlier the song of his youth and
the touch of his earlier lutte
Than his voice to the later-strung Tyre;
AS bough sets to bud, bud increases to flower, snd
the flower is followed of fruit,
AS breath wakes the glory of fire,
The blossoming stem of his song is fulfilled, ysa
with measure Of fruitage fourfo'd,
His spirit enlightened of days
What clasp shall be broken, what bond shall be ooa
ened what link shall fail ever to hold
The love of mems hearts to his praise?
city once more and again cry aloud, lit thy voice.
speak thou well OF thy son,
Thy child best-beloved of thee;
Weave wreath of thy praise and thy peace for bis
head, crown his hair thou desirable one
That art as queen by the sea!
Ultima Thule.
lry HENRY wADswoRTH LoSeFsLLow.l
With favorng winds, Ger sunlit seas,
We sailed for the Hesperides,
The land where golden apples grow,
Pnt 1,at oh thatv WA lOn0