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EROS fe? PSYCHE 
 
L'anima semplicetta che sa nulla. 
 
 Dante. 
 
 O latest-born, O loveliest vision far 
 Of all Olympus' faded hierarchy. 
 
 Keats. 
 
EROS & PSYCHE 
 
 > ,> » » > 
 
 BY >\ i 
 
 ROBERT BRIDGES 
 
 // 
 
 LONDON 
 
 GEORGE BELL AND SONS 
 
 1894 
 

 CHISWICK PRESS:— CHARLES WHITTINGHAM AND CO. 
 TOOKS COURT, CHANCERY LANE, LONDON. 
 
NOTE 
 
 This poem was first published in 1885. It has now- 
 been revised throughout, and parts of the first and 
 second cantos rewritten. It is printed in the form 
 originally intended, the divisions corresponding to 
 seasons, months and days. At the end of the volume 
 a note will be found explaining the spelling. 
 
 , R. B. 
 Yattendon, 
 
 1894. 
 
 804741 
 
FIRST QUARTER 
 
 Spring 
 
 Tsyche % s earthly parentage. Worshipped by men 
 
 and persecuted by ^Aphrodite, she is loved 
 
 and carried off by 6ros. 
 
 r 
 
EROS & PSYCHE 
 MARCH 
 
 IN midmost length of hundred-citied Crete, 
 The land that cradl'd Zeus, of old renown, 
 Where grave Demeter nurseried her wheat, 
 And Minos fashion'd law, ere he went down 
 To judge the quaking hordes of HelPs domain, 
 There dwelt a King on the Omphalian plain 
 Eastward of Ida, in a little town. 
 
 Three daughters had this King, of whom my tale 
 Time hath preserved, that loveth to despise 
 The wealth which men misdeem of much avail, 
 Their glories for themselves that they devise ; 
 For clerkly is he, old hard-featured Time, 
 And poets' fabPd song, and lovers' rhyme 
 He storeth on his shelves to please his eyes. 
 
4 EROS fcf PSYCHE 
 
 3 
 These three princesses all were fairest fair ; 
 And of the elder twain 'tis truth to say 
 That if they stood not high above compare, 
 Vet in their prime they bore the palm away ; 
 Outwards of loveliness ; but Nature's mood, 
 Gracious to make, had grudgingly endued 
 And marr'd by gifting ill the beauteous clay. 
 
 4 
 And being in honour they were well content 
 To feed on lovers' looks and courtly smiles, 
 To hang their necks with jewel'd ornament, 
 And gold, that vanity in vain beguiles, 
 And live in gaze, and take their praise for due, 
 To be the fairest maidens then to view 
 Within the shores of Greece and all her isles. 
 
 5 
 But of that youngest one, the third princess, 
 There is no likeness ; since she was as far 
 From pictured beauty as is ugliness, 
 
MARCH 
 
 Though on the side where heavenly wonders are, 
 Ideals out of being and above, 
 Which music worshipeth, but if love love, 
 'Tis, as the poet saith, to love a star. 
 
 Her vision rather drave from passion's heart 
 What earthly soil it had afore possest ; 
 Since to man's purer unsubstantial part 
 The brightness of her presence was addrest : 
 And such as mock'd at God, when once they saw 
 Her heavenly glance were humbl'd, and in awe 
 Of things unseen, return'd to praise the Best. 
 
 7 
 And so before her, wheresoe'er she went, 
 Hushing the crowd a thrilling whisper ran, 
 And silent heads were reverently bent; 
 Till from the people the belief began 
 That Love's own mother had come down on earth, 
 Sweet Cytherea, or of mortal birth 
 A greater Goddess was vouchsaf 't to man. 
 
6 EROS fif PSYCHE 
 
 8 
 
 Then Aphrodite's statue in its place 
 Stood without worshippers ; if Cretans pray'd 
 For beauty or for children, love or grace, 
 The prayer and vow were offer'd to the maid ; 
 Unto the maid their hymns of praise were sung, 
 Their victims bled for her, for her they hung 
 Garland and golden gift, and none forbade. 
 
 9 
 
 And thence opinion spread beyond the shores, 
 From isle to isle the wonder flew, it came 
 Across the ^Egaean on a thousand oars, 
 Athens and Smyrna caught the virgin's fame ; 
 And East or West, where'er the tale had been, 
 The adoration of the foam-born queen 
 Fell to neglecl, and men forgot her name. 
 
 10 
 
 No longer to high Paphos now 'twas sail'd ; 
 The fragrant altar by the Graces served 
 At Cnidus was forsaken ; pilgrims fail'd 
 

 MARCH 
 
 The rocky island to her name reserved, 
 Proud Ephyra, and Meropis renown'd ; 
 'Twas all for Crete her votaries were bound, 
 And to the Cretan maid her worship swerved. 
 
 Which when in heaven great Aphrodite saw, 
 Who is the breather of the year's bright morn, 
 Fount of desire and beauty without flaw, 
 Herself the life that doth the world adorn ; 
 Seeing that without her generative might 
 Nothing can spring upon the shores of light, 
 Nor any bud of joy or love be born; 
 
 12 
 
 She, when she saw the insult, did not hide 
 
 Her indignation, that a mortal frail 
 
 With her eterne divinity had vied, 
 
 Her fair Hellenic empire to assail, 
 
 For which she had fled the doom of Ninus old, 
 
 And left her wanton images unsoul'd 
 
 In Babylon and Zidon soon to fail. 
 
8 EROS y PSYCHE 
 
 "Not long," she cried, "shall that poor girl of Crete 
 
 God it in my despite ; for I will bring 
 
 Such mischief on the sickly counterfeit 
 
 As soon shall cure her tribe of worshipping : 
 
 Her beauty will I mock with loathed lust, 
 
 Bow down her dainty spirit to the dust, 
 
 And leave her long alive to feel the sting." 
 
 H 
 With that she calls to her her comely boy, 
 The limber scion of the God of War, 
 The fruit adulterous, which for man's annoy 
 To that fierce partner Cytherea bore, 
 Eros, the ever young, who only grew 
 In mischief, and was Cupid named anew 
 In westering aftertime of latin lore. 
 
 What the first dawn of manhood is, the hour 
 When beauty, from its fleshy bud unpent, 
 Flaunts like the corol of a summer flower, 
 
MARCH 
 
 As if all life were for that ornament ; 
 Such Eros seemed in years, a trifler gay, 
 The prodigal of an immortal day 
 For ever spending, and yet never spent. 
 
 16 
 
 His skin is brilliant with the nimble flood 
 Of ichor, that comes dancing from his heart, 
 Lively as fire, and redder than the blood, 
 And maketh in his eyes small flashes dart, 
 And curleth his hair golden, and distilleth 
 Honey on his tongue, and all his body filleth 
 With wanton lightsomeness in every part. 
 
 I? 
 
 Naked he goeth, but with sprightly wings 
 Red, iridescent, are his shoulders fledged. 
 His weapons are a bow he deftly strings, 
 And little arrows barb'd and keenly edged ; 
 And these he shooteth true ; but else the youth 
 For all his seeming recketh naught of truth, 
 But most deceiveth where he most is pledged. 
 
io EROS ST PSYCHE 
 
 18 
 
 'Tis he that maketh in men's heart a strife 
 Between remorseful reason and desire, 
 Till with life lost they lose the love of life, 
 And by their own hands wretchedly expire ; 
 Or slain in bloody rivalries they miss 
 Even the short embracement of their bliss, 
 His smile of fury and his kiss of fire. 
 
 He makes the strong man weak, the weak man wild 
 Ruins great business and purpose high ; 
 Brings down the wise to folly reconciled, 
 And martial captains on their knees to sigh : 
 He changeth dynasties, and on the head 
 Of duteous heroes, who for honour bled, 
 Smircheth the laurel that can never die. 
 
 20 
 
 Him then she call'd, and gravely kissing told 
 The great dishonour to her godhead done ; 
 And how, if he from that in heaven would hold, 
 
MARCH ii 
 
 On earth he must maintain it as her son ; 
 The rather that his weapons were most fit, 
 As was his skill ordain'd to champion it ; 
 And flattering thus his ready zeal she won. 
 
 21 
 
 Whereon she quickly led him down on earth, 
 And show'd him psyche, thus the maid was named ; 
 Whom when she show'd, but could not hide her 
 
 worth, 
 She grew with envy tenfold more enflamed. 
 " But if," she cried, " thou smite her as I bid, 
 Soon shall our glory of this affront be rid, 
 And she and all her likes for ever shamed. 
 
 22 
 
 " Make her to love the loathliest, basest wretch, 
 
 Deform'd in body, and of moonstruck mind, 
 
 A hideous brute and vicious, born to fetch 
 
 Anger from dogs and cursing from the blind. 
 
 And let her passion for the monster be 
 
 As shameless and detestable as he 
 
 Is most extreme and vile of humankind." 
 
12 EROS & PSYCHE 
 
 23 
 
 Which Said, when he agreed, she spake no more, 
 But left him to his task, and took her way 
 Beside the ripples of the shell-strewn shore, 
 The southward stretching margin of a bay, 
 Whose sandy curves she pass'd, and taking stand 
 Upon its taper horn of furthest land, 
 Lookt left and right to rise and set of day. 
 
 H 
 
 Fair was the sight ; for now though full an hour 
 
 The sun had sunk she saw the evening light 
 
 In shifting colour to the zenith tower, 
 
 And grow more gorgeous ever and more bright. 
 
 Bathed in the warm and comfortable glow, 
 
 The fair delighted queen forgot her woe, 
 
 And watch'd the unwonted pageant of the night. 
 
 Broad and low down, where late the sun had been, 
 A wealth of orange-gold was thickly shed, 
 Fading above into a field of green, 
 
MARCH 13 
 
 Like apples ere they ripen into red ; 
 
 Then to the height a variable hue 
 
 Of rose and pink and crimson freak'd with blue, 
 
 And olive-border'd clouds o'er lilac led. 
 
 26 
 
 High in the opposed west the wondering moon 
 All silvery green in flying green was fleec't ; 
 And round the blazing South the splendour soon 
 Caught all the heaven, and ran to North and East ; 
 And Aphrodite knew the thing was wrought 
 By cunning of Poseidon, and she thought 
 She would go see with whom he kept his feast. 
 
 27 
 
 Swift to her wish came swimming on the waves 
 His lovely ocean nymphs, her guides to be, 
 The Nereids all, who live among the caves 
 And valleys of the deep, Cymodoce, 
 Agave, blue-eyed Hallia and Nesaea, 
 Speio, and Thoe, Glauce and A&aea, 
 Iaira, M elite and Amphinome, 
 
14 EROS & PSYCHE 
 
 28 
 
 Apseudes and Nemertes, Callianassa, 
 Cymothoe, Thaleia, Limnorrhea, 
 Clymene, Ianeira and Ianassa, 
 Doris and Panope and Galatea, 
 Dynamene, Dexamene and Maira, 
 Ferusa, Doto, Proto, Callianeira, 
 Amphithoe, Oreithuia and Amathea. 
 
 29 
 
 And after them sad Melicertes drave 
 His chariot, that with swift unfellied wheel, 
 By his two dolphins drawn along the wave, 
 Flew as they plunged, yet did not dip nor reel, 
 But like a plough that shears the heavy land 
 Stood on the flood, and back on either hand 
 O'erturn'd the briny furrow with its keel. 
 
 30 
 
 Behind came Tritons, that their conches blew, 
 Greenbearded, tail'd like fish, all sleek and stark ; 
 And hippocampi tamed, a bristly crew, 
 
MARCH 
 
 *5 
 
 The browzers of old Proteus' weedy park, 
 Whose chiefer Mermen brought a shell for boat, 
 And balancing its hollow fan afloat, 
 Push'd it to shore and bade the queen embark: 
 
 31 
 And then the goddess stept upon the shell 
 Which took her weight ; and others threw a train 
 Of soft silk o'er her, that unfurl'd to swell 
 In sails, at breath of flying Zephyrs twain ; 
 And all her way with foam in laughter strewn, 
 With stir of music and of conches blown, 
 Was Aphrodite launch'd upon the main. 
 
APRIL 
 
 BUT fairest Psyche still in favour rose, 
 Nor knew the jealous power against her sworn : 
 And more her beauty now surpass't her foe's, 
 Since 'twas transfigured by the spirit forlorn, 
 That writeth, to the perfecting of grace, 
 Immortal question in a mortal face, 
 The vague desire whereunto man is born. 
 
 Already in good time her sisters both, 
 Whose honest charms were never famed as hers, 
 With princes of the isle had plighted troth, 
 And gone to rule their foreign courtiers ; 
 But she, exalted evermore beyond 
 Their loveliness, made yet no lover fond, 
 And gain'd but number to her worshippers. 
 
APRIL 17 
 
 3 
 
 To joy in others' joy had been her lot, 
 
 And now that that was gone she wept to see 
 
 How her transcendent beauty overshot 
 
 The common aim of all felicity. 
 
 For love she sigh'd ; and had some peasant rude 
 
 For true love's sake in simple passion woo'd, 
 
 Then Psyche had not scorn'd his wife to be. 
 
 + 
 
 For what is Beauty, if it doth not fire 
 The loving answer of an eager soul ? 
 Since 'tis the native food of man's desire, 
 And doth to good our varying world control ; 
 Which, when it was not, was for Beauty's sake 
 Desired and made by Love, who still doth make 
 A beauteous path thereon to Beauty's goal. 
 
 5 
 Should all men by some hateful venom die, 
 The pity were that o'er the unpeopl'd sphere 
 The sun would still bedeck the evening sky 
 
 c 
 
1 8 EROS fcT PSYCHE 
 
 And the unimaginable hues appear, 
 With none to mark the rose and gold and green; 
 That Spring should walk the earth, and nothing seen 
 Of her fresh delicacy year by year. 
 
 And if some beauteous things, — whose heavenly worth 
 
 And function overpass our mortal sense, — 
 
 Lie waste and unregarded on the earth 
 
 By reason of our gross intelligence, 
 
 These arc not vain, because in nature's scheme 
 
 It lives that we shall grow from dream to dream 
 
 In time to gather an enchantment thence. 
 
 7 
 Even as we see the fairest works of men 
 Awhile neglcttcd, and the makers die ; 
 But Truth comes weeping to their graves, and then 
 Their fames victoriously mounting high 
 Do battle with the regnant names of eld, 
 To win their seats ; as when the Gods rebel'd 
 Against their sires and drave them from the sky. 
 
APRIL 19 
 
 8 
 
 But to be praised for beauty and denied 
 The meed of beauty, this was yet unknown : 
 The best and bravest men have ever vied 
 To win the fairest women for their own. 
 
 Thus Psyche spake, or reason'd in her mind, 
 Disconsolate, and with self-pity pined, 
 In the deserted halls wandering alone. 
 
 9 
 
 And grieved grew the King to see her woe : 
 And blaming first the gods for her disease, 
 He purposed to their oracle to go 
 To question how he might their wrath appease, 
 Or, if that might not be, the worst to hear, — 
 Which is the last poor hope of them that fear. — 
 So he took ship upon the northern seas, 
 
 10 
 
 And journeying to the shrine of Delphi went, 
 
 The temple of Apollo Pythian, 
 
 Where when the god he question'd if 'twas meant 
 
zo EROS Ear PSYCHE 
 
 That Psyche should be wed, and to what man, 
 The tripod shook, and o'er the vaporous well 
 The chanting Pythoness gave oracle, 
 And thus in priestly verse the sentence ran : 
 
 II 
 
 High on the topmost rock with funeral feast 
 Convey and leave the maid nor look to find 
 A mortal husband, but a savage beast. 
 The viperous scourge of gods and humankind; 
 Who shames and vexes all, and as he flies 
 With sword and fire, Zeus trembles in the skies, 
 And groans arise from souls to hell consigned. 
 
 12 
 
 With which reply the King return'd full sad : 
 For though he nothing more might understand, 
 Yet in the bitter bidding that he had 
 No man made question of the plain command, 
 That he must sacrifice the tender flower 
 Of his own blood to a demonian power, 
 Upon the rocky mount with his own hand. 
 
APRIL 21 
 
 »S 
 
 Some said that she to Talos was devote, 
 The metal giant, who with mile-long stride 
 Cover'd the isle, walking around by rote 
 Thrice every day at his appointed tide ; 
 Who shepherded the sea-goats on the coast, 
 And, as he past, caught up and live would roast, 
 Pressing them to his burning ribs and side: 
 
 H 
 
 Whose head was made of fine gold-beaten work, 
 Of silver pure his arms and gleaming chest, 
 Thence of green-bloomed bronze far as the fork, 
 Of iron weather-rusted all the rest. 
 One single vein he had, which running down 
 From head to foot was open in his crown, 
 And closed by a nail ; such was this pest. 
 
 15 
 
 A little while they spent in sad delay, 
 Then order'd, as the oracle had said, 
 The cold feast and funereal display 
 
22 EROS & PSYCHE 
 
 Wherewith the fated bridal should be sped: 
 And their black pageantry and vain despairing 
 When Psyche saw, and for herself preparing 
 The hopeless ceremonial of the dead, 
 
 16 
 
 Then spake she to the King and said " O Sire, 
 Why wilt thou veil those venerable eyes 
 With piteous tears, which must of me require 
 More tears again than for myself arise ? 
 Then, on the day my beauty first o'erstept 
 Its mortal place it had been well to have wept ; 
 But now the fault beyond our ruing lies. 
 
 17 
 " As to be worship *d was my whole undoing, 
 So my submission must the forfeit pay: 
 And welcome were the morning of my wooing, 
 Tho' after it should dawn no other day. 
 Up to the mountain ! for I hear the voice 
 Of my beloved on the winds, Rejoice, 
 Arise, my love, my fair one, and come away ! " 
 
APRIL 23 
 
 18 
 
 With such distemper'd speech, that little cheer'd 
 Her mourning house, she went to choose with care 
 The raiment for her day of wedlock weird, 
 Her body as for burial to prepare ; 
 But laved with bridal water, from the stream 
 Where Hera bathed ; for still her fate supreme 
 Was doubtful, whether Love or Death it were : 
 
 Love that is made of joy, and Death of fear : 
 Nay, but not these held Psyche in suspense ; 
 Hers was the hope that following by the bier 
 Boweth its head beneath the darkf immense: 
 Her fear the dread of life that turns to hide 
 Its tragic tears, what hour the happy bride 
 Ventures for love her maiden innocence. 
 
 20 
 
 They set on high upon the bridal wain 
 Her bed for bier, and yet no corpse thereon ; 
 But like as when unto a warrior slain 
 
24 EROS tsf PSYCHE 
 
 And not brought home the ceremonies done 
 Are empty, for afar his body brave 
 Lies lost, deep buried by the wandering wave, 
 Or 'neath the foes his fury fell upon, 
 
 21 
 
 So was her hearse: and with it went afore, 
 Singing the solemn dirge that moves to tears, 
 The singers ; and behind, clad as for war, 
 The King uncrown'd among his mournful peers, 
 All 'neath their armour robed in linen white ; 
 And in their left were shields, and in their right 
 Torches they bore aloft instead of spears. 
 
 22 
 
 And next the virgin tribe in white forth sail'd, 
 With wreaths of dittany; and 'midst them there 
 Went Psyche, all in lily-whiteness veil'd, 
 The white Quince-blossom chapleting her hair : 
 And last the common folk, a weeping crowd, 
 Far as the city-gates with wailings loud 
 Follow'd the sad procession in despair. 
 
APRIL 25 
 
 23 
 
 Thus forth and up the mount they went, until 
 The funeral chariot must be left behind, 
 Since road was none for steepness of the hill ; 
 And slowly by the narrow path they wind: 
 All afternoon their white and scatter'd file 
 Toil'd on distinct, ascending many a mile 
 Over the long brown slopes and crags unkind. 
 
 H 
 
 But ere unto the snowy peak they came 
 
 Of that stormshapen pyramid so high, 
 
 'Twas evening, and with footsteps slow and lame 
 
 They gather'd up their lagging company : 
 
 And then her sire, even as Apollo bade, 
 
 Set on the topmost rock the hapless maid, 
 
 With trembling hands and melancholy cry. 
 
 And now the sun was sunk ; only the peak 
 Flash'd like a jewel in the deepening blue : 
 And from the shade beneath none dared to speak, 
 
26 EROS fg PSYCHE 
 
 But all look'd up, where glorified anew 
 Psyche sat islanded in living day. 
 Breathless they watcht her, till the last red ray 
 Fled from her lifted arm that waved adieu. 
 
 26 
 
 There left they her, turning with sad farewells 
 
 To haste their homeward course, as best they might: 
 
 But night was crowding up the barren fells, 
 
 And hid full soon their rocky path from sight ; 
 
 And each unto his stumbling foot to hold 
 
 His torch was fain, for o'er the moon was roll'd 
 
 A mighty cloud from heaven, to blot her light. 
 
 And thro' the darkness for long while was seen 
 That armour'd train with waving fires to thread 
 Downwards, by pass, defile, and black ravine, 
 Each leading on the way that he was led. 
 Slowly they gain'd the plain, and one by one 
 Into the shadows of the woods were gone, 
 Or in the clinging mists were quench'd and fled. 
 
APRIL 27 
 
 28 
 
 But unto Psyche, pondering o'er her doom 
 In tearful silence on her stony chair, 
 A Zephyr straying out of heaven's wide room 
 Rush'd down, and gathering round her unaware 
 Fill'd with his breath her vesture and her veil, 
 And like a ship, that crowding all her sail 
 Leans to accompany the tranquil air, 
 
 29 
 
 She yielded, and was borne with swimming brain 
 And airy joy, along the mountain side, 
 Till, hid from earth by ridging summits twain, 
 They came upon a valley deep and wide ; 
 Where the strong Zephyr with his burden sank, 
 And laid her down upon a grassy bank, 
 'Mong thyme and violets and daisies pied. 
 
 30 
 
 And straight upon the touch of that sweet bed 
 
 Both woe and wonder melted fast away : 
 
 And sleep with gentle stress her sense o'erspread, 
 
28 EROS fcf PSYCHE 
 
 Gathering as darkness doth on drooping day: 
 And nestling to the ground, she slowly drew 
 Her wearied limbs together, and, ere she knew, 
 Wrapt in forgetfulness and slumber lay. 
 
MAY C 
 
 AFTER long sleep when Psyche first awoke 
 Among the grasses 'neath the open skies, 
 And heard the mounting larks, whose carol spoke 
 Delighted invitation to arise, 
 She lay as one who after many a league 
 Hath slept off memory with his long fatigue, 
 And waking knows not in what place he lies: 
 
 Anon her quickening thought took up its task, 
 
 And all came back as it had happ'd o'ernight ; 
 
 The sad procession of the wedding mask, 
 
 The melancholy toiling up the height, 
 
 The solitary rock where she was left ; 
 
 And thence in dark and airy waftage reft, 
 
 How on the flowers she had been disburden'd light. 
 
30 EROS fcf PSYCHE 
 
 3 
 
 Thereafter she would rise and see what place 
 That voyage had its haven in, and found 
 She stood upon a little hill, whose base 
 Shelved off into the valley all around ; 
 And all round that the steep cliffs rose away, 
 Save on one side where to the break of day 
 The widening dale withdrew in falling ground. 
 
 4 
 There, out from over sea, and scarce so high 
 As she, the sun above his watery blaze 
 Upbroke the grey dome of the morning sky, 
 And struck the island with his level rays ; 
 Sifting his gold thro' lazy mists, that still 
 Climb'd on the shadowy roots of every hill, 
 And in the tree-tops breathed their silvery haze. 
 
 5 
 At hand on either side there was a wood ; 
 And on the upward lawn, that sloped between, 
 Not many paces back a temple stood, 
 
MAY 31 
 
 By even steps ascending from the green ; 
 With shaft and pediment of marble made, 
 It fill'd the passage of the rising glade, 
 And there withstay'd the sun in dazzling sheen. 
 
 Too fair for human art, so Psyche thought, 
 
 It might the fancy of some god rejoice ; 
 
 Like to those halls which lame Hephaestos wrought, 
 
 Original, for each god to his choice, 
 
 In high Olympus ; where his matchless lyre 
 
 Apollo wakes, and the responsive choir 
 
 Of Muses sing alternate with sweet voice. 
 
 7 
 Wondering she drew anigh, and in a while 
 Went up the steps as she would entrance win, 
 And faced her shadow 'neath the peristyle 
 Upon the golden gate, whose flanges twin — 
 As there she stood, irresolute at heart 
 To try — swung to her of themselves apart ; 
 Whereat she past between and stood within. 
 
32 EROS y PSYCHE 
 
 8 
 
 A foursquare court it was with marble floor'd, 
 Embay'd about with pillar'd porticoes, 
 That echo'd in a somnolent accord 
 The music of a fountain, which arose 
 Sparkling in air, and splashing in its tank ; 
 Whose wanton babble, as it swell'd or sank, 
 Gave idle voice to silence and repose. 
 
 9 
 Thro' doors beneath the further colonnade, 
 Like a deep cup's reflected glooms of gold, 
 The inner rooms glow'd with inviting shade: 
 And, standing in the court, she might behold 
 Cedar, and silk, and silver ; and that all 
 The pargeting of ceiling and of wall 
 Was fresco'd o'er with figures manifold. 
 
 10 
 
 Then making bold to go within, she heard 
 
 Murmur of gentle welcome in her ear ; 
 
 And seeing none that coud have spoken word, 
 
MAY 33 
 
 She waited : when again HaUp, litato near ; 
 (flmter ! was cried ; and now more voices came 
 From all the air around calling her name, 
 And bidding her rejoice and have no fear. 
 
 II 
 
 And one, if she would rest, would show her bed, 
 
 Pillow'd for sleep, with fragrant linen fine ; 
 
 One, were she hungry, had a table spread 
 
 Like as the high gods have it when they dine : 
 
 Or, would she bathe, were those would heat the bath ; 
 
 The joyous cries contending in her path, 
 
 5P02C|?e, they said, mff&t toilt tfjou? all ie tfnne. 
 
 12 
 
 Then Psyche would have thank'd their service true, 
 But that she fear'd her echoing words might scare 
 Those sightless tongues; and well by dream she knew 
 The voices of the messengers of prayer, 
 Which fly upon the gods' commandment, when 
 They answer the supreme desires of men, 
 Or for a while in pity hush their care. 
 
 D 
 
34 EROS £ PSYCHE 
 
 'Twas fancy's consummation, and because 
 She would do joy no curious despite, 
 She made no wonder how the wonder was ; 
 Only concern'd to take her full delight. 
 So to the bath, — what luxury coud be 
 Better enhanced by eyeless ministry? — 
 She follows with the voices that invite. 
 
 There being deliciously refresht, from soil 
 Of earth made pure by water, fire, and air, 
 They clad her in soft robes of Asian toil, 
 Scented, that in her queenly wardrobe were ; 
 And led her forth to dine, and all around 
 Sang as they served, the while a choral sound 
 Of strings unseen and reeds the burden bare. 
 
 P athetic strains and passionate they wove, 
 
 U rgent in ecstasies of heavenly sense; 
 
 R esponsive rivalries, that, while they strove, 
 

 MAY 35 
 
 C ombined in full harmonious suspense, 
 
 E ntrancing wild desire, then fell at last 
 
 L ull'd in soft closes, and with gay contrast 
 
 L aunch'd forth their fresh unwearied excellence. 
 
 16 
 
 Now Psyche, when her twofold feast was o'er, 
 Would feed her eye ; and choosing for her guide 
 A low-voiced singer, bade her come explore 
 The wondrous house ; until on every side 
 As surfeited with beauty, and seeing nought 
 But what was rich and fair beyond her thought, 
 And all her own, thus to the voice she cried : 
 
 17 
 "Am I indeed a goddess, or is this 
 But to be dead ; and through the gates of death 
 Passing unwittingly doth man not miss 
 Body nor memory nor living breath ; 
 Nor by demerits of his deeds is cast, 
 But, paid with the desire he holdeth fast, 
 Is holp with all his heart imagineth ? " 
 
36 EROS g PSYCHE 
 
 i3 
 
 But her for all reply the wandering tongue 
 
 Call'd to the chamber where her bed was laid, 
 
 With flower'd broideries of linen hung : 
 
 And round the walls in painting were portray'd 
 
 Love's victories over the gods renown'd. 
 
 Ares and Aphrodite here lay bound 
 
 In the fine net that dark Hephaestus made : 
 
 l 9 
 Here Zeus, in likeness of a tawny bull, 
 Stoop'd on the Cretan shore his mighty knee, 
 While off his back Europa beautiful 
 Stept pale against the blue Carpathian sea ; 
 And here Apollo, as he caught amazed 
 Daphne, for lo ! her hands shot forth upraised 
 In leaves, her feet were rooted like a tree : 
 
 20 
 
 Here Dionysos, springing from his car 
 At sight of Ariadne ; here uplept 
 Adonis to the chase, breaking the bar 
 
MAY 37 
 
 Of Aphrodite's arm for love who wept : 
 He spear in hand, with leashed dogs at strain ; 
 A marvellous work. But Psyche soon grown fain 
 Of rest, betook her to her bed and slept. 
 
 21 
 
 Nor long had slept, when at a sudden stir 
 She woke ; and one, that thro* the dark made way, 
 Drew near, and stood beside ; and over her 
 The curtain rustPd. Trembling now she lay, 
 Fainting with terror : till upon her face 
 A kiss, and with two gentle arms' embrace, 
 A voice that call'd her name in loving play. 
 
 22 
 
 Though for the darkness she coud nothing see, 
 She wish'd not then for what the night denied : 
 This was the lover she had lack'd, and she, 
 Loving his loving, was his willing bride. 
 O'erjoy'd she slept again, o'erjoy'd awoke 
 At break of morn upon her love to look ; 
 When lo ! his empty place lay by her side. 
 
38 EROS fcf PSYCHE 
 
 So all that day she spent in company 
 
 Of the soft voices ; and 2Df ricfjt, they said, 
 
 art tf>ou our iUTJg noto. 9Se fjappil? 
 
 Zpv briual morroto op t|>2 0eroant0 gpetu 
 
 But she but long'd for night, if that might bring 
 
 Her lover back ; and he on secret wing 
 
 Came with the dark, and in the darkness fled. 
 
 H 
 
 And this was all her life ; for every night 
 He came, and though his name she never learn'd, 
 Nor was his image yielded to her sight 
 At morn or eve, she neither look'd nor yearn'd 
 Beyond the joy she had : and custom brought 
 An ease to pleasure ; nor would Psyche's thought 
 Have ever to her earthly home return 'd, 
 
 But that one night he said " Psyche, my soul, 
 Sad danger threatens us : thy sisters twain 
 Come to the mountain top, whence I thee stole, 
 
MAY 39 
 
 And thou wilt hear their voices thence complain. 
 Answer them not : for it must end our love 
 If they should hear or spy thee from above." 
 And Psyche said " Their cry shall be in vain." 
 
 26 
 
 But being again alone, she thought 'twas hard 
 On her own blood; 'and blamed her joy as thief 
 Of theirs, her comfort which their comfort barr'd ; 
 When she their care might be their care's relief. 
 All day she brooded on her father's woe, 
 And when at night her lover kisst her, lo ! 
 Her tender face was wet with tears of grief. 
 
 Then question'd why she wept, she all confest ; 
 
 And begg'd of him she might but once go nigh 
 
 To set her sire's and sisters' fears at rest ; 
 
 Till he for pity coud not but comply : 
 
 " Only if they should ask thee of thy love 
 
 Discover nothing to their ears above." 
 
 And Psyche said " In vain shall be their cry." 
 
 
40 EROS tsf PSYCHE 
 
 28 
 
 And yet with day no sooner was alone, 
 Than she for loneliness her promise rued : 
 That having so much pleasure for her own, 
 'Twas all unshared and spent in solitude. 
 And when at night her love flew to his place, 
 More than afore she shamed his fond embrace, 
 And "piteously with tears her plaint renew'd. 
 
 29 
 
 The more he now denied, the more she wept ; 
 Nor would in anywise be comforted, 
 Unless her sisters, on the Zephyr swept, 
 Should in those halls be one day bathed and fed, 
 And see themselves the palace where she reign'd. 
 And he by force of tears at last constraint, 
 Granted her wish unwillingly, and said : 
 
 30 
 
 " Much to our peril hast thou won thy will ; 
 Thy sisters' love, seeing thee honour'd so, 
 Will sour to envy, and with jealous skill 
 
MAY 41 
 
 Will pry to learn the thing thou must not know. 
 Answer not, nor inquire ; for know that I 
 The day thou seest my face far hence shall fly, 
 And thou anew to bitterest fate must go." 
 
 But Psyche said " Thy love is more than life ; 
 
 To have thee leaveth nothing to be won : 
 
 For should the noonday prove me to be wife 
 
 Even of the beauteous Eros, who is son 
 
 Of Cypris, I could never love thee more." 
 
 Whereat he fondly kisst her o'er and o'er, 
 
 And peace was 'twixt them till the night was done. 
 
 
SECOND QUARTER 
 
 Summer 
 
 PsychSs sisters^ snaring her to destruction, are 
 themselves destroyed. 
 
JUNE 
 
 AND truly need there was to the old King 
 For consolation: since the mournful day 
 Of Psyche's fate he took no comforting, 
 But only for a speedy death would pray ; 
 And on his head his hair grew silver-white. 
 — Such on life's topmost bough is sorrow's blight, 
 When the stout heart is cankering to decay. 
 
 Which when his daughters learnt, they both were 
 
 quick 
 Comfort and solace to their sire to lend. 
 But as not seldom they who nurse the sick 
 Will take the malady from them they tend, 
 So happ'd it now ; for they who fail'd to cheer 
 Grew sad themselves, and in that palace drear 
 Increased the evil that they came to mend. 
 
46 EROS W PSYCHE 
 
 3 
 And them the unhappy father sent to seek 
 Where Psyche had been left, if they might find 
 What monster held her on the savage peak; 
 Or if she there had died of hunger pined, 
 And, by wild eagles stript, her scatter'd bones 
 Might still be gather'd from the barren stones ; 
 Or if her fate had left no trace behind. 
 
 4 
 So just upon this time her sisters both 
 Climb'd on the cliff that hung o'er Psyche's vale ; 
 And finding there no sign, to leave were loth 
 Ere well assured she lurk'd not within hail. 
 So calling loud her name, " Psyche ! " they cried, 
 " Psyche, O Psyche ! " and when none replied 
 They sank upon the rocks to weep and wail. 
 
 5 
 But Psyche heard their voices where she sat, 
 And summoning the Zephyr bade him fleet 
 Those mourners down unto the grassy plat 
 
JUNE 47 
 
 'Midst of her garden, where she had her seat, 
 Then from the dizzy steep the wondering pair 
 Came swiftly sinking on his buoyant air, 
 And stood upon the terrace at her feet. 
 
 6 
 
 Upsprang she then, and kiss'd them and embraced, 
 And said " Lo, here am I, I whom ye mourn. 
 I am not dead, nor tortured, nor disgraced, 
 But blest above all days since I was born : 
 Wherefore be glad. Enter my home and see 
 How little cause has been to grieve for me, 
 And my desertion on the rocks forlorn." 
 
 7 
 So entering by the golden gate, or e'er 
 The marvel of their hither flight had waned, 
 Fresh wonder took them now, for everywhere 
 Their eyes that lit on beauty were enchain'd ; 
 And Psyche's airy service, as she bade, 
 Perform'd its magic office, and display'd 
 The riches of the palace where she reign'd. 
 
EROS QT PSYCHE 
 
 8 
 
 And through the perfumed chambers they were led, 
 
 And bathed therein ; and after, set to sup, 
 
 Were upon dreamlike delicacies fed, 
 
 And wine more precious than its golden cup. 
 
 Till seeing nothing lack'd and naught was theirs, 
 
 Their happiness fell from them unawares, 
 
 And bitter envy in their hearts sprang up. 
 
 9 
 
 At last one said "Psyche, since not alone 
 
 Thou livest here in joy, as well we wot, 
 
 Who is the man who should these wonders own, 
 
 Or god, I say, and still appeareth not? 
 
 What is his name ? What rank and guise hath he, 
 
 Whom winds and spirits serve, who honoureth thee 
 
 Above all others in thy blissful lot?" 
 
 10 
 
 But Psyche when that wistful speech she heard 
 Was ware of all her spouse had warn'd her of: 
 And uttering a disingenuous word, 
 
JUNE 49 
 
 Said " A youth yet unbearded is my love ; 
 He goeth hunting on the plains to-day, 
 And with his dogs hath wander'd far away ; 
 And not till eve can he return above." 
 
 II 
 
 Then fearing to be nearer plied, she rose 
 And brought her richest jewels one by one, 
 Bidding them choose and take whate'er they chose ; 
 And beckoning the Zephyr spake anon 
 That he should waft her sisters to the peak ; 
 The which he did, and, ere they more coud speak, 
 They rose on high, and in the wind were gone. 
 
 12 
 
 Nor till again they came upon the road, 
 Which from the mountain shoulder o'er the plain 
 Led to the city of their sire's abode, 
 Found they their tongues, though full of high disdain 
 Their hearts were, but kept silence, till the strength 
 Of pride and envious hatred burst at length 
 In voice, and thus the elder gan complain : 
 
50 EROS fcf PSYCHE 
 
 13 
 " Cruel and unjust fortune ! that of three 
 Sisters, whose being from one fountain well'd, 
 Exalts the last so high from her degree, 
 And leaves the first to be so far excePd. 
 My husband is a poor and niggard churl 
 To him, whoe'er he be, that loves the girl. 
 Oh ! in what godlike state her house is held ! " 
 
 " Ay," said the other, " to a gouty loon 
 Am I not wedded ? Lo ! thy hurt is mine : 
 But never call me woman more, if soon 
 I cannot lure her from her height divine. 
 Nay, she shall need her cunning wit to save 
 The wealth of which so grudgingly she gave ; 
 Wherefore thy hand and heart with me combine. 
 
 " She but received us out of pride, to show 
 Her state, well deeming that her happiness 
 Was little worth while there was none to know ; 
 
JUNE 51 
 
 So is our lot uninjured if none guess. 
 Reveal we nothing therefore, but the while 
 Together scheme this wanton to beguile, 
 And bring her boasting godhead to distress." 
 
 16 
 
 So fresh disordering their dress and hair, 
 With loud lament they to their sire return, 
 Telling they found not Psyche anywhere, 
 And of her sure mischance could nothing learn : 
 And with that lie the wounded man they slew, 
 Hiding the saving truth which well they knew; 
 Nor did his piteous grief their heart concern. 
 
 17 
 Meanwhile her unknown lover did not cease 
 To warn poor Psyche how her sisters plan'd 
 To undermine her love and joy and peace ; 
 And urged how well she might their wiles withstand, 
 By keeping them from her delight aloof : 
 For better is security than proof, 
 And malice held afar than near at hand. 
 
52 EROS W PSYCHE 
 
 18 
 
 "And, dearest wife," he said, "since 'tis not long 
 
 Ere one will come to share thy secrecy, 
 
 And be thy babe and mine ; let nothing wrong 
 
 The happy months of thy maternity. 
 
 If thou keep trust, then shalt thou see thy child 
 
 A god ; but if to pry thou be beguiled, 
 
 The lot of both is death and misery." 
 
 Then Psyche's simple heart was fill'd with joy, 
 And counting to herself the months and days, 
 Look'd for the time, when she should bear a boy 
 To be her growing stay and godlike praise. 
 And " O be sure," she said, " be sure, my pride 
 Having so rich a promise cannot slide, 
 Even if my love coud fail which thee obeys." 
 
 20 
 
 And so most happily her life went by, 
 In thoughts of love dear to her new estate ; 
 Until at length the evil day drew nigh, 
 
JUNE 53 
 
 When now her sisters, joined in jealous hate, 
 Set forth again, and plotted by the way- 
 How they might best allure her to betray 
 Her secret ; with what lie their angle bait. 
 
 21 
 
 That night her husband spake to her, and said 
 * " Psyche, thy sisters come : and when they climb 
 The peak they will not tarry to be sped 
 Down by the Zephyr, as that other time, 
 But winging to the wind will cast themselves 
 Out in the air, and on the rocky shelves 
 Be dasht, and pay the penalty of crime. 
 
 22 
 
 " So let it be, and so shall we be saved." 
 Which meditated vengeance of his fear 
 When Psyche heard, now for their life she craved, 
 Whose mere distress erewhile had toucht her near. 
 Around her lover's neck her arms she threw, 
 And pleaded for them by her faith so true, 
 Although they went on doom in judgment clear. 
 
54 EROS & PSYCHE 
 
 In terror of bloodguiltiness she now 
 Forgot all other danger ; she adjured ; 
 Or using playfulness deep sobs would plow 
 Her soft entreaties, not to be endured : 
 Till he at last was fain once more to grant 
 The service of the Zephyr, to enchant 
 That wicked couple from their fate assured. 
 
 24 
 
 So ere 'twas noon were noises at the door 
 Of knocking loud and voices high in glee ; 
 Such as within that vale never before 
 Had been, and now seem'd most unmeet to be. 
 And Psyche blush'd, though being alone, and rose 
 To meet her sisters and herself unclose 
 The gate that made them of her palace free. 
 
 Fondly she kiss'd them, and with kindly cheer 
 Sought to amuse ; and they with outward smile 
 O'ermask'd their hate, and called her sweet and dear, 
 
JUNE 55 
 
 Finding affe&ion easy to beguile : 
 And all was smooth, until at last one said 
 " Tell us, I pray, to whom 'tis thou art wed ; 
 'Mong gods or men, what is his rank and style ? 
 
 26 
 
 " Thou canst not think to hide the truth from us, 
 
 Who knew thy peevish sorrows when a maid, 
 
 And see thee now so glad and rapturous, 
 
 As changed from what thou wert as light from shade ; 
 
 Thy jewels, too, the palace of a king, 
 
 Nor least the serviceable spiriting, 
 
 By everything thy secret is betray'd : 
 
 *7 
 " And yet thou talkest of thy wondrous man 
 No more than if his face thou didst not know." 
 At which incontinently she began, 
 Forgetful of her word a month ago, 
 Answering " A merchant rich, of middle age, 
 My husband is ; and o'er his features sage 
 His temples are already touch'd with snow. 
 
EROS Qf PSYCHE 
 
 28 
 
 " But 'gainst his wish since hither ye were brought 
 'Twere best depart." Then her accustom'd spell 
 Sped them upon the summit quick as thought ; 
 And being alone her doing pleased her well : 
 So was she vext to find her love at night 
 More sad than ever, of her sisters' spite 
 Speaking as one that coud the end foretell. 
 
 29 
 
 " And ere long," said he, " they will spy again : 
 Let them be dash'd upon the rocks and die ; 
 'Tis they must come to death or thou to pain, 
 To separation, Psyche, thou and I ; 
 Nay, and our babe to ill. I therefore crave 
 Thou wilt not even once more these vipers save, 
 Nor to thy love his only boon deny." 
 
 30 
 
 But Psyche would not think her sisters' crime 
 So gross and strange, nor coud her danger see ; 
 Since 'twere so easy, if at any time 
 
JUNE 57 
 
 They show'd the venom of their hearts, that she 
 Should fan them off upon the willing gust. 
 So she refused, and claiming truer trust, 
 Would in no wise unto their death agree. 
 
JULY 
 
 "T T THAT think you, sister:" thus one envious 
 
 VV fiend 
 
 To other spake upon their homeward route, 
 " What of the story that our wit hath glean'd 
 Of this mysterious lover, who can shoot 
 In thirty days from beardless youth to prime, 
 With wisdom in his face before his time, 
 And snowy locks upon his head to boot ? " 
 
 "Ay," said the other, "true, she lied not well ; 
 And thence I gather knows no more than we : 
 For surely 'tis a spirit insensible 
 To whom she is wedded, one she cannot see» 
 'Tis that I fear ; for if 'tis so, her child 
 Will be a god, and she a goddess styled, 
 Which, though I die to let it, shall not be. 
 
JULY 59 
 
 3 
 
 " Lament we thus no longer. Come, consult 
 
 What may be done." And home they came at night, 
 
 Yet not to rest, but of their plots occult 
 
 Sat whispering on their beds ; and ere 'twas light 
 
 Resolving on the deed coud not defer ; 
 
 But roused the sleeping house with sudden stir, 
 
 And sallied forth alone to work their spite. 
 
 4 
 And with the noon were climb'd upon the peak, 
 And swam down on the Zephyr as before ; 
 But now with piercing cry and doleful shriek 
 They force their entrance through the golden door. 
 Feigning the urgency of bitter truth ; 
 Such as deforms a friendly face with ruth, 
 When kindness may not hide ill tidings more. 
 
 5 
 Then Psyche when she heard their wailful din, 
 And saw their countenances wan and worn 
 With travel, vigil, and disfiguring sin, 
 
60 EROS fcf PSYCHE 
 
 Their hair dishevel'd and their habits torn, 
 
 For trembling scarce could ask what ill had hapt ; 
 
 And they alert with joy to see her trapt, 
 
 Launch'd forth amain, and on their drift were borne. 
 
 " O Psyche, happiest certainly and blest 
 
 Up to this hour," they said, " thou surely wert, 
 
 Being of thy fearful peril unpossest ; 
 
 Which now we would not tell but to avert. 
 
 But we in solemn truth thy spouse have found 
 
 To be the dragon of this mountain ground, 
 
 Who holds thee here to work thy shame and hurt. 
 
 7 
 " As yesternight we rode upon the wind 
 He issued to pursue us from the wood ; 
 We saw his back, that through the tree-tops finn'd, 
 His fiery eyes glared from their wrinkl'd hood. 
 Lo, now betimes the oracle, which said 
 How to the savage beast thou shouldst be wed, 
 Is plainly for thy safety understood. 
 
JULY 6 1 
 
 8 
 
 " Long time hath he been known to all that dwell 
 
 Upon the plain ; but now his secret lair 
 
 Have we discover'd, which none else coud tell : 
 
 Though many women fallen in his snare 
 
 Hath he enchanted ; who, tradition saith, 
 
 Taste love awhile, ere to their cruel death 
 
 They pass in turn upon the summits bare. 
 
 9 
 
 " Fly with us while thou mayst : no more delay ; 
 Renounce the spells of this accursed vale. 
 We come to save thee, but we dare not stay ; 
 Among these sightless spirits our senses quail. 
 Fly with us, fly ! " Then Psyche, for her soul 
 Was soft and simple, lost her self-control, 
 And, thinking only of the horrid tale, 
 
 10 
 
 " Dear sisters," said she, and her sobbing speech 
 
 Was broken by her terror, " it is true 
 
 That much hath hapt to stablish what ye teach ; 
 
6z EROS fcf PSYCHE 
 
 For ne'er hath it been granted me to view 
 My husband ; and, for aught I know, he may 
 Be even that cruel dragon, which ye say 
 Peer'd at you from the forest to pursue. 
 
 II 
 
 " 'Tis sure that scarcely can I win his grace 
 To see you here ; and still he mischief vows 
 If ever I should ask to see his face, 
 Which, coming in the dark, he ne'er allows. 
 Therefore, if ye can help, of pity show, 
 Since doubt I must, how I may come to know 
 What kind of spirit it is that is my spouse." 
 
 12 
 
 Then to her cue the younger was afore : 
 " Hide thou a razor," cried she, " near thy bed ; 
 And have a lamp prepared, but whelm thereo'er 
 Some cover, that no light be from it shed. 
 And when securely in first sleep he lies, 
 Look on him well, and ere he can arise, 
 Gashing his throat, cut off his hideous head." 
 
JULY 63 
 
 13 
 
 Which both persuading, off they flew content, 
 Divining that whate'er she was forbid 
 Was by her lover for her safety meant, 
 Which only coud be sure while he was hid. 
 
 But Psyche, to that miserable deed 
 Being now already in her mind agreed, 
 Wander'd alone, and knew not what she did. 
 
 Now she would trust her lover, now in turn 
 Made question of his bidding as unjust; 
 But thirsting curiosity to learn 
 His secret overcame her simple trust, 
 O'ercame her spoken troth, o'ercame her fear ; 
 And she prepared, as now the hour drew near, 
 The mean contrivances, nor felt disgust. 
 
 She set the lamp beneath a chair, and cloked 
 
 Thickly its rebel lustre from the eye : 
 
 And laid the knife, to mortal keenness stroked, 
 
64 EROS esT PSYCHE 
 
 Within her reach, where she was wont to lie : 
 And took her place full early ; but her heart 
 Beat fast, and stay'd her breath with sudden start, 
 Feeling her lover's arm laid fond thereby. 
 
 16 
 
 But when at last he slept, then she arose, 
 
 All faint and tremulous : and though it be 
 
 That wrong betrayeth innocence with shews 
 
 Of novelty, its guilt from shame to free, 
 
 Yet 'twas for shame her hand so strangely shook 
 
 That held the steel, and from the cloke that took 
 
 The lamp, and raised it o'er the bed to see. 
 
 She had some fear she might not well discern 
 By that small flame a monster in the gloom ; 
 When lo ! the air about her seem'd to burn, 
 And bright celestial radiance fill'd the room. 
 Too plainly O she saw, O fair to see ! 
 Eros, 'twas Eros' self, her lover, he, 
 The God of love, reveal'd in deathless bloom. 
 
JULY 65 
 
 18 
 
 Her fainting strength forsook her ; on her knees 
 Down by the bed she sank ; the shameless knife 
 Fell flashing, and her heart took thought to seize 
 Its desperate haft, and end her wicked life. 
 Yet coud she not her loving eyes withdraw 
 From her fair sleeping lover, whom she saw 
 Only to know she was no more his wife. 
 
 O treasure of all treasures, late her own ! 
 O loss above all losses, lost for aye ! 
 Since there was no repentance could atone 
 For her dishonour, nor her fate withstay. 
 But yet 'twas joy to have her love in sight ; 
 And, to the rapture yielding while she might, 
 She gazed upon his body where he lay. 
 
 20 
 
 Above all mortal beauty, as was hers, 
 She saw a rival ; but if passion's heart 
 Be rightly read by subtle questioners, 
 
66 EROS & PSYCHE 
 
 It owns a wanton and a gentler part. 
 And Psyche wonder'd, noting every sign 
 By which the immortal God, her spouse divine, 
 Betray'd the image of our earthly art; 
 
 21 
 
 His thickly curling hair, his ruddy cheeks, 
 
 And pouting lips, his soft and dimpPd chin, 
 
 The full and cushion'd eye, that idly speaks 
 
 Of self-content and vanity within, 
 
 The forward, froward ear, and smooth to touch 
 
 His body sleek, but rounded overmuch 
 
 For dignity of mind and pride akin. 
 
 22 
 
 She noted that the small irradiant wings, 
 That from his shoulders lay along at rest, 
 Were yet disturb'd with airy quiverings, 
 As if some wakeful spirit his blood possest ; 
 She feared he was awaking, but they kept 
 Their sweet commotion still, and still he slept, 
 And still she gazed with never-tiring zest. 
 
JULY 67 
 
 *3 
 
 And now the colour of her pride and joy 
 Outflush'd the hue of Eros ; she, so cold, 
 To have fired the passion of the heartless boy, 
 Whom none in heaven or earth were found to hold ! 
 Psyche, the earthborn, to be prized above 
 The heavenly Graces by the God of love, 
 And worshipt by his wantonness untold ! 
 
 Nay, for that very thing she loved him more, 
 More than herself her sweet selPs complement : 
 Until the sight of him again upbore 
 Her courage, and renew'd her vigour spent. 
 And looking now around, she first espied 
 Where at the bed's foot, cast in haste aside, 
 Lay his full quiver, and his bow unbent. 
 
 25 
 
 One of those darts, of which she had heard so oft, 
 She took to try if 'twas so very keen ; 
 And held its point against her finger soft 
 
68 EROS y PSYCHE 
 
 So gently, that to touch it scarce was seen ; 
 Yet was she sharply prickt, and felt the fire 
 Run through her veins ; and now a strange desire 
 Troubl'd her heart, which ne'er before had been : 
 
 26 
 
 Straight sprang she to her lover on the bed, 
 And kisst his cheek, and was not satisfied : 
 When, O the lamp, held ill-balanced o'erhead, 
 One drop of burning oil spill'd from its side 
 On Eros' naked shoulder as he slept, 
 Who wakened by the sudden smart uplept 
 Upon the floor, and all the mischief eyed. 
 
 With nervous speed he seized his bow, and past 
 
 Out of the guilty chamber at a bound; 
 
 But Psyche, following his flight as fast, 
 
 Caught him, and crying threw her arms around : 
 
 Till coming to the court he rose in air ; 
 
 And she, close clinging in her last despair, 
 
 Was dragg'd, and then lost hold and fell to ground. 
 
JULY 69 
 
 28 
 
 Wailing she fell ; but he, upon the roof 
 Staying his feet, awhile his flight delay'd : 
 And turning to her as he stood aloof 
 Beside a cypress, whose profoundest shade 
 Drank the reflections of the dreamy night 
 In its stiff pinnacle, the nimble light 
 Of million stars upon his body play'd : 
 
 29 
 
 " O simple-hearted Psyche," thus he spake, 
 And she upraised her piteous eyes and hands, 
 " O simple-hearted Psyche, for thy sake 
 I dared to break my mother's stern commands ; 
 And gave thee godlike marriage in the place 
 Of vilest shame ; and, not to hurt thy grace, 
 Spared thee my arrows, which no heart withstands. 
 
 30 
 
 " But thou, for doubt I was some evil beast, 
 Hast mock'd the warning of my love, to spy 
 Upon my secret, which concern'd thee least, 
 
70 EROS fcT PSYCHE 
 
 Seeing that thy joy was never touch'd thereby. 
 By faithless prying thou hast work'd thy fall, 
 And, even as I foretold thee, losest all 
 For looking on thy happiness too nigh. 
 
 " Which loss may be thine ample punishment. 
 But to those fiends, by whom thou wert misled, 
 Go tell each one in turn that I have sent 
 This message, that I love her in thy stead ; 
 And bid them by their love haste hither soon." 
 Whereat he fled ; and Psyche in a swoon 
 Fell back upon the marble floor as dead. 
 
AUGUST 
 
 WHEN from the lowest ebbing of her blood 
 The fluttering pulses thrill'd and swell'd 
 again, 
 Her stricken heart recovering force to flood 
 With life the sunken conduits of her brain, 
 Then Psyche, where she had fallen, numb and cold 
 Arose, but scarce her quaking sense control'd, 
 Seeing the couch where she that night had lain. 
 
 The level sunbeams search'd the grassy ground 
 For diamond dewdrops. Ah ! was this the place ? 
 Where was the court, her home ? she look'd around 
 And questional with her memory for a space. 
 There was the cypress, there the well-known wood, 
 That wall'd the spot : 'twas here her palace stood, 
 As surely as 'twas vanish'd without trace. 
 
72 EROS fcf PSYCHE 
 
 3 
 Was all a dream ? To think that all was dreamt 
 Were now the happier thought ; but arguing o'er 
 That dream it was, she fell from her attempt, 
 Feeling the wifely burden that she bore. 
 Nay, true, 'twas true. She had had all and lost ; 
 The joy, the reckless wrong, the heavy cost 
 Were hers, the dead end now, and woe in store. 
 
 4 
 
 What to be done ? Fainting and shelterless 
 Upon the mountain it were death to bide : 
 And harbour knew she none, where her distress 
 Might comfort find, or love's dishonour hide ; 
 Nor felt she any dread like that of home : 
 Yet forth she must, albeit to rove and roam 
 An outcast o'er the country far and wide. 
 
 5 
 
 Anon she marvel'd noting from the vale 
 A path lead downward to the plain below, 
 Crossing the very site, whereon the pale 
 
AUGUST 73 
 
 Of all her joy had stood few hours ago ; 
 A run of mountain beasts, that keep their track 
 Through generations, and for ages back 
 Had trod the self-same footing to and fro. 
 
 That would she try : so forth she took her way, 
 Turning her face from the dishonour'd dellj 
 Adown the broadening eastward lawns, which lay 
 In gentle slant, till suddenly they fell 
 In sheer cliff; whence the path that went around, 
 Clomb by the bluffs or e'er it downward wound 
 Beneath that precipice impassable. 
 
 7 
 There once she turn'd, and gazing up the slope 
 She bid the scene of all her joy adieu ; 
 " Ay, and farewell," she cried, " farewell to hope, 
 Since there is none will rescue me anew, 
 Who have kill'd God's perfection with a doubt." 
 Which said, she took the path that led about, 
 And hid the upland pleasance from her view. 
 
74 EROS fcf PSYCHE 
 
 8 
 
 But soon it left her, entering 'neath the shade 
 Of cedar old and russeted tall pine, 
 Whose mighty tops, seen from the thorny glade, 
 Belted the hills about ; and now no sign 
 Had she to guide her, save the slow descent. 
 But swiftly o'er the springy floor she went, 
 And drew the odorous air like draughts of wine. 
 
 9 
 
 Then next she past a forest thick and dark 
 
 With heavy ilexes and platanes high, 
 
 And came to long lush grass ; and now coud mark 
 
 By many a token that the plain was nigh. 
 
 When lo ! a river : to whose brink at last 
 
 Being come, upon the bank her limbs she cast, 
 
 And through her sad tears watch'd the stream go by. 
 
 10 
 
 And now the thought came o'er her that in death 
 There was a cure for sorrow, that before 
 Her eyes ran Lethe, she might take one breath 
 
AUGUST 75 
 
 Of water and be freed for evermore. 
 Leaning to look into her tomb, thereon 
 She saw the horror of her image wan, 
 And up she rose at height to leap from shore. 
 
 II 
 
 When suddenly a mighty voice, that fell 
 With fury on her ears, their sense to scare, 
 That bounding from the tree trunks like the yell 
 Of hundred brazen trumpets, cried " Forbear ! 
 Forbear, fond maid, that froward step to take, 
 For life can cure the ills that love may make ; 
 But for the harm of death is no repair." 
 
 12 
 
 Then looking up she saw an uncouth form 
 Perch'd on the further bank, whose parted lips 
 Volley'd their friendly warning in a storm : 
 A man he might have been, but for the tips 
 Of horns appearing from his shaggy head, 
 For o'er his matted beard his face was red, 
 And all his shape was manlike to the hips. 
 
76 EROS & PSYCHE 
 
 In forehead low, keen eye, and nostril flat 
 
 He bore the human grace in mean degree, 
 
 But, set beneath his body squat and fat, 
 
 Legs like a goat's, and from the hairy knee 
 
 The shank fell spare ; and, though crosswise he put 
 
 His limbs in easeful posture, for the foot 
 
 The beast's divided hoof was plain to see. 
 
 Him then she knew the mighty choric God, 
 The great hill-haunting and tree-loving Pan ; 
 Whom Zeus had laught to see when first he trod 
 Olympus, neither god nor beast nor man : 
 Who every rocky peak and snowy crest 
 Of the Aspran mountains for his own possest, 
 And all their alps with bacchic rout o'erran. 
 
 Whom, when his pipe he plays on loud and sweet, 
 And o'er the fitted reeds his moist lip flees, 
 Around in measured step with nimble feet 
 
AUGUST 77 
 
 Water-nymphs dance and Hamadryades : 
 And all the woodland's airy folk, who shun 
 Man's presence, to his frolic pastime run 
 From their perennial wells and sacred trees. 
 
 16 
 
 Now on his knee his pipe laid by, he spoke 
 With flippant tongue, wounding unwittingly 
 The heart he sought to cheer with jest and joke. 
 " And what hast thou to do with misery," 
 He said, " who hast such beauty as might gain 
 The love of Eros ? Cast away thy pain, 
 And give thy soul to mirth and jollity. 
 
 " Thy mortal life is but a brittle vase, 
 But as thee list with wine or tears to fill ; 
 For all the drops therein are Ohs and Ahs 
 Of joy or grief according to thy will ; 
 And wouldst thou learn of me my merry way, 
 I'd teach thee change thy lover every day, 
 And prize the cup that thou wert fain to spill. 
 
78 EROS fcf PSYCHE 
 
 18 
 
 " Nay, if thou plunge thou shalt not drown nor sink, 
 For I will to thee o'er the stream afloat, 
 And bear thee safe ; and O I know a drink 
 For care, that makes sweet music in the throat. 
 Come live with me, my love ; I'll cure thy chance : 
 For I can laugh and quaff, and pipe and dance, 
 Swim like a fish, and caper like a goat." 
 
 *9 
 
 Speaking, his brute divinity explored 
 The secret of her silence ; and old Pan 
 Grew kind and told her of a shallow ford 
 Where lower down the stream o'er pebbles ran, 
 And one might pass at ease with ankles dry : 
 Whither she went, and crossing o'er thereby, 
 Her lonely wanderings through the isle began. 
 
 20 
 
 But none could tell, no, nor herself had told 
 Where food she found, or shelter through the land 
 By day or night ; until by fate controPd 
 
AUGUST 79 
 
 She came by steep ways to the southern strand, 
 Where, sacred to the Twins and Britomart, 
 Pent in its rocky theatre apart, 
 A little town stood on the level sand. 
 
 21 
 
 'Twas where her younger sister's husband reign 'd : 
 
 And Psyche to the palace gate drew near, 
 
 Helplessly still by Eros' hest constrain'd, 
 
 And knocking begg'd to see her sister dear ; 
 
 But when in state stepp'd down that haughty queen, 
 
 And saw the wan face spent with tears and teen, 
 
 She smiled, and said " Psyche, what dost thou here ? " 
 
 22 
 
 Then Psyche told how, having well employ'd 
 Their means, and done their bidding not amiss, 
 Looking on him her hand would have destroy'd, 
 'Twas Eros ; whom in love leaning to kiss, 
 Even as she kisst, a drop of burning oil 
 Fall'n from the lamp had served her scheme to foil, 
 Discovering her in vision of her bliss ; 
 
80 EROS fcf PSYCHE 
 
 Wherewith the god stung, like a startled bird 
 
 Arose in air, and she fell back in swoon ; 
 
 " But ere he parted," said she, " he confer'd 
 
 On thee the irrecoverable boon 
 
 By prying lost to me : Go tell, he said, 
 
 Thy sister that I love her in thy stead, 
 
 And bid ber by her love haste hither soon" 
 
 H 
 
 Which when that heart of malice heard, it took 
 
 The jealous fancy of her silly lust : 
 
 And pitilessly with triumphant look 
 
 She drank the flattery, and gave full trust ; 
 
 And leaving Psyche ere she more could tell, 
 
 Ran off to bid her spouse for aye farewell, 
 
 And in his ear this ready lie she thrust : 
 
 25 
 
 " My dearest sister Psyche, she whose fate 
 We mourn'd, hath reappear'd alive and hale, 
 But brings sad news ; my father dies : full late 
 
AUGUST 8 1 
 
 These tidings come, but love may yet avail ; 
 Let me be gone. 5 * And stealing blind consent, 
 Forth on that well-remember'd road she went, 
 And climb'd upon the peak above the dale. 
 
 26 
 
 There on the topmost rock, where Psyche first 
 Had by her weeping sire been left to die, 
 She stood a moment, in her hope accurst 
 Being happy ; and the cliffs took up her cry 
 With chuckling mockery from her tongue above, 
 Zephyr, sweet Zephyr, waft me to my love I 
 When off she lept upon his wings to fly. 
 
 But as a dead stone, irom a height let fall, 
 
 Silent and straight is gather'd by the force 
 
 Of earths vast mass upon its weight so small, 
 
 In speed increasing as it nears its source 
 
 Of motion — by which law all things so'er 
 
 Are clutch'd and dragg'd and held — so fell she there, 
 
 Like a dead stone, down in her headlong course. 
 
 G 
 
EROS fcf PSYCHE 
 
 28 
 
 The disregardful silence heard her strike 
 Upon the solid crags ; her dismal shriek 
 Rang on the rocks and died out laughter-like 
 Along the vale in hurried trebles weak ; 
 And soon upon her, from their skiey haunt 
 Fell to their feast the great birds bald and gaunt, 
 And gorged on her fair flesh with bloody beak. 
 
 29 
 
 But Psyche, when her sister was gone forth, 
 Went out again her wandering way to take : 
 And following a stream that led her north, 
 After some days she pass'd the Corian Lake, 
 Whereby Athena's temple stands, and he 
 Who traverses the isle from sea to sea 
 May by the plain his shortest journey make : 
 
 30 
 
 Till on the northern coast arrived she came 
 
 Upon a city built about a port, 
 
 The which she knew, soon as she heard the name, 
 
AUGUST 83 
 
 Was where her eldest sister held her court ; 
 To whom, as Eros had commanded her, 
 She now in turn became the messenger 
 Of vengeful punishment, that fell not short : 
 
 3* 
 
 For she too hearing gan her heart exalt, 
 Nor pity felt for Psyche's tears and moans, 
 But, fellow'd with that other in her fault, 
 Follow'd her to her fate upon the stones ; 
 And from the peak leaping like her below 
 The self-same way unto the self-same woe, 
 Lay dasht to death upon her sister's bones. 
 
THIRD QUARTER 
 
 autumn 
 
 Psych is wanderings . 
 
SEPTEMBER 
 
 ON the Hellenic board of Crete's fair isle, 
 Westward of Drepanon, along a reach 
 Which massy Cyamum for many a mile 
 Jutting to sea delivers from the breach 
 Of North and East, — returning to embay 
 The favour'd shore — an ancient city lay, 
 Aptera, which is Wingless in our speech. 
 
 And hence the name ; that here in rocky cove, 
 Thence called Museion, was the trial waged 
 What day the Sirens with the Muses strove, 
 By jealous Hera in that war engaged : 
 Wherein the daughters of Mnemosyne 
 O'ercame the chauntresses who vex'd the sea, 
 Nor vengeance spared them by their pride enraged. 
 
88 EROS & PSYCHE. 
 
 3 
 For those strange creatures, who with women's words 
 And wiles made ravenous prey of passers-by, 
 Were throated with the liquid pipe of birds : 
 Of love they sang ; and none, who saiPd anigh 
 Through the grey hazes of the cyanine sea, 
 Had wit the whirlpool of that song to flee, 
 Nor fear'd the talon hook'd and feather'd thigh. 
 
 4 
 
 But them the singers of the gods o'ercame, 
 
 And pluck'd them of their plumage, where in fright 
 
 They vainly flutter'd off to hide their shame, 
 
 Upon two rocks that lie within the bight, 
 
 Under the headland, barren and alone ; 
 
 Which, being with the scatter'd feathers strewn, 
 
 Were, by the folk named Leukse, which is White. 
 
 5 
 Thereon about this time the snowy gull, 
 Minion of Aphrodite, being come, 
 Plumed himself, standing on the sea-wrack dull, 
 
SEPTEMBER 89 
 
 That drifted from the foot of Cyamum ; 
 
 And 'twas his thought, that had the goddess learnt 
 
 The tale of Psyche loved and Eros burnt, 
 
 She ne'er so long had kept aloof and dumb. 
 
 Wherefore that duteous gossip of Love's queen 
 Devised that he the messenger would be ; 
 And rising from the rock, he skim'd between 
 The chasing waves — such grace have none but he ;- 
 Into the middle deep then down he dived, 
 And rowing with his glistening wings, arrived 
 At Aphrodite's bower beneath the sea. 
 
 7 
 The eddies from his silver pinions swirl'd 
 The crimson, green, and yellow floss, that grew 
 About the caves, and at his passing curl'd 
 Its graceful silk, and gently waved anew : 
 Till, oaring here and there, the queen he found 
 Stray'd from her haunt unto a sandy ground, 
 Dappl'd with eye-rings in the sunlight blue. 
 
90 EROS fcf PSYCHE 
 
 8 
 
 She, as he came upon her from above, 
 With Hora play'd ; Hora, her herald fair, 
 That lays the soft necessity of Love 
 On maidens* eyelids, and with tender care 
 Marketh the hour, as in all works is fit : 
 And happy they in love who time outwit, 
 Fondly constrained in her season rare. 
 
 9 
 
 But he with garrulous and laughing tongue 
 Broke up his news ; how Eros, fallen sick, 
 Lay tossing on his bed, to frenzy stung 
 By such a burn as did but barely prick : 
 A little bleb, no bigger than a pease, 
 Upon his shoulder 'twas, that kilPd his ease, 
 Fever'd his heart, and made his breathing thick. 
 
 10 
 
 " For which disaster hath he not been seen 
 
 This many a day at all in any place : 
 
 And thou, dear mistress," piped he, " hast not been 
 
SEPTEMBER 91 
 
 Thyself amongst us now a dreary space : 
 The pining mortals suffer from a dearth 
 Of love ; and for this sadness of the earth 
 Thy family is darken'd with disgrace. 
 
 11 
 
 " Now on the secret paths of dale and wood, 
 Where lovers walk'd are lovers none to find : 
 And friends, besworn to equal brotherhood, 
 Forget their faith, and part with words unkind : 
 In the first moon thy honey bond is loath'd : 
 And I could tell even of the new-betroth'd 
 That fly o'ersea, and leave their loves behind. 
 
 12 
 
 " Summer is over, but the merry pipe, 
 That wont to cheer the harvesting, is mute : 
 And in the vineyards, where the grape is ripe, 
 No voice is heard of them that take the fruit. 
 No workman singeth at eve nor maiden danceth : 
 All joy is dead, and as the year advanceth 
 The signs of woe increase on man and brute. 
 
92 EROS fcf PSYCHE 
 
 " 'Tis plain that if thy pleasure longer pause, 
 Thy mighty rule on earth hath seen its day : 
 The race must come to perish, and no cause 
 But that thou sittest with thy nymphs at play, 
 While on a Cretan hill thy truant boy 
 Hath with his pretty mistress turn'd to toy, 
 And less for pain than love pineth away." 
 
 " Ha ! Mistress ! " cried she ; " Hath my beardless son 
 
 Been hunting for himself his lovely game? 
 
 Some young Orestiad hath his fancy won ? 
 
 Some Naiad ? say; or is a Grace his flame? 
 
 Or maybe Muse, and then 'tis Erato, 
 
 The trifling wanton. Tell me, if thou know, 
 
 Woman or goddess is she ? and her name." 
 
 Then said the snowy gull, " O heavenly queen, 
 What is my knowledge, who am but a bird ? 
 Yet is she only mortal, as I ween, 
 
SEPTEMBER 93 
 
 And named Psyche, if I rightly heard." — 
 But Aphrodite's look daunted his cheer, 
 Ascare he fled away, screaming in fear, 
 To see what wrath his simple tale had stirr'd. 
 
 16 
 
 He flasht his pens, and sweeping widely round 
 
 Tower'd to air ; so swift in all his way, 
 
 That whence he dived he there again was found 
 
 As soon as if he had but dipt for prey : 
 
 And now, or e'er he join'd his wailful flock, 
 
 Once more he stood upon the Sirens' rock, 
 
 And preen'd his ruffl'd quills for fresh display. 
 
 But as ill tidings have their truth assured 
 Without more witness than their fatal sense, 
 So, since was nought she less could have endured, 
 The injured goddess guess'd the full offence : 
 And doubted only whether first to smite 
 Or Psyche for her new presumptuous flight, 
 Or Eros for his disobedience. 
 
94 EROS y PSYCHE 
 
 18 
 
 But full of anger to her son she went, 
 And found him in his golden chamber laid ; 
 And with him sweet Euphrosyne, attent 
 Upon his murmur'd wants, aye as he bade 
 Shifted the pillows with each fretful whim ; 
 But scornfully his mother look'd at him, 
 And reckless of his pain gan thus upbraid : 
 
 " O worthy deeds, I say, and true to blood, 
 
 The crown and pledge of promise ! thou that wast 
 
 In estimation my perpetual bud, 
 
 Now fruiting thus untimely to my cost ; 
 
 Backsliding from commandment, ay, and worse, 
 
 With bliss to favour one I bade thee curse, 
 
 And save the life I left with thee for lost ! 
 
 20 
 
 " Thou too to burn with love, and love of her 
 Whom I did hate ; and to thy bed to take 
 My rival, that my trusted officer 
 
SEPTEMBER 95 
 
 Might of mine enemy my daughter make ! 
 Dost thou then think my love for thee so fond, 
 And miserably doting, that the bond 
 By such dishonour strained will not break ? 
 
 21 
 
 " Or that I cannot bear another son 
 
 As good as thou ; or, if I choose not bear, 
 
 Not beg as good a lusty boy of one 
 
 Of all my nymphs, — and some have boys to spare, — 
 
 One I might train, to whom thine arms made o'er 
 
 Should do me kinder service than before, 
 
 To smite my foes and keep my honour fair ? 
 
 22 
 
 " For thou hast ever mockt me, and beguiled 
 In amours strange my God, thy valiant sire : 
 And having smirch'd our fame while yet a child 
 Wilt further foul it now with earthly fire. 
 But I — do as thou may — have vow'd to kill 
 Thy fancied girl, whether thou love her still, 
 Or of her silly charms already tire. 
 
96 EROS fcf PSYCHE 
 
 *3 
 " Tell me but where she hides." And Eros now, 
 Proud in his woe, boasted his happy theft : 
 Confessing he had loved her well, and how 
 By her own doing she was lost and left ; 
 And homeless in such sorrow as outwent 
 The utmost pain of other punishment, 
 Was wandering of his love and favour reft. 
 
 24 
 
 By which was Cypris gladden'd, not appeased, 
 But hid her joy and spake no more her threat : 
 And left with face like one that much displeased 
 First bending deigns a sign he may forget. 
 
 When lo ! as swiftly she came stepping down 
 From her fair house into the heavenly town 
 The Kronian sisters on the way she met ; 
 
 25 
 Hera, the Wife of Zeus, her placid front 
 Dark with the shadow of his troubPd reign, 
 And tall Demeter, who with men once wont, 
 
SEPTEMBER 97 
 
 Holding the high Olympians in disdain 
 For Persephassa's rape ; which now forgiven, 
 She had return'd unto the courts of Heaven, 
 And 'mong the immortals liv'd at peace again : 
 
 26 
 
 Whose smile told Aphrodite that they knew 
 
 The meaning of her visit ; and a flush 
 
 Of anger answer'd them, while hot she grew. 
 
 But Hera laugh'd outright : "Why thou dost blush ! 
 
 Now see we modest manners on my life ! 
 
 And all thy little son has got a wife 
 
 Can make the crimson to thy forehead rush. 
 
 " Didst think he, whom thou madest passion's prince, 
 No privy dart then for himself would poise ? 
 Nay, by the cuckoo on my sceptre, since 
 'Twas love that made thee mother of his joys, 
 Art thou the foremost to his favour bound; 
 As thou shouldst be the last to think to sound 
 The heart, and least of all thy wanton boy's." 
 
 H 
 
98 EROS y PSYCHE 
 
 28 
 
 But her Demeter, on whose stalwart arm 
 
 She lean'd, took up : "If thou wilt hark to me, 
 
 This Psyche," said she, "hath the heavenly charm, 
 
 And will become immortal. And maybe 
 
 To marry with a woman is as well 
 
 As wed a god and live below in Hell : 
 
 As 'twas my lot in child of mine to see." 
 
 *9 
 
 Which things they both said, fearing in their hearts 
 That savage Eros, if they mockt his case, 
 Would kill their peace with his revengeful darts, 
 And bring them haply to a worse disgrace : 
 But Aphrodite, saying " Good ! my dames ; 
 Behind this smoke I see the spite that flames," 
 Left them, and on her journey went apace. 
 
 30 
 
 For having purposed she would hold no truce 
 With Psyche or her son, 'twas in her mind 
 To go forthwith unto the throne of Zeus, 
 
SEPTEMBER 99 
 
 And beg that Hermes might be sent to find 
 The wanderer ; and secure that in such quest 
 He would not fail, she ponder'd but how best 
 She might inflict her vengeance long-design'd. 
 
OCTOBER 
 
 HEAVY meanwhile at heart, with bruised feet 
 Was Psyche wandering many nights and days 
 Upon the paths of hundred-citied Crete, 
 And chose to step the most deserted ways ; 
 Being least unhappy when she went unseen ; 
 Since else her secret sorrow had no screen 
 From the plain question of men's idle gaze. 
 
 Yet wheresoe'er she went one hope she had ; 
 Like mortal mourners, who 'gainst reason strong 
 Hope to be unexpectedly made glad 
 With sight of their dead friends, so much they long ; 
 So she for him, whom loss a thousandfold 
 Endear'd and made desired ; nor could she hold 
 He would not turn and quite forgive her wrong. 
 
OCTOBER ioi 
 
 3 
 Wherefore her eager eyes in every place 
 Lookt for her lover ; and 'twixt hope and fear 
 She follow'd oft afar some form of grace, 
 In pain alike to lose or venture near. 
 And still this thought cheer'd her fatigue, that he, 
 Or on some hill, or by some brook or treey; ; , . , 
 But waited for her coming to appear. '•,,> j '»i , ; • 
 
 s » J » > > 
 
 If J ■> « • ■> > 1 3 
 
 And then for comfort many an old love-crost 
 
 And doleful ditty would she gently sing, 
 
 Writ by sad poets of a lover lost, 
 
 Now sounding sweeter for her sorrowing : 
 
 Echo, sweet Echo, watching up on high, 
 
 Say hast thou seen to-day my love go by y 
 
 Or where thou sittest by thy mossy spring ? 
 
 5 
 Or say ye nymphs, that from the crystal rills, 
 When ye have bathed your limbs from morn till eve, 
 Flying at midnight to the bare-topi hills, 
 
102 EROS y PSYCHE 
 
 Beneath the stars your mazy dances weave, 
 Say, my deserter, whom ye well may know 
 By his small wings, his quiver, and his bow, 
 Say, have ye seen my love, whose loss I grieve ? 
 
 Till clirab'd one evening on a rocky steep 
 Ahove the plain of Cisamos, that lay, 
 Robb'd of its golden harvest, in the deep 
 Mountainous shadows of the dying day, 
 She saw a temple, whose tall columns fair 
 Recall'd her home ; and " O if thou be there, 
 My love," she cried, " fly not again away." 
 
 7 
 Swiftly she ran, and entering by the door 
 She stood alone within an empty fane 
 Of great Demeter : and, behold, the floor 
 Was litter'd with thank-offerings of grain, 
 With wheat and barley-sheaves together heapt 
 In holy harvest-home of them that reapt 
 The goddess' plenteous gifts upon the plain ; 
 
OCTOBER 103 
 
 8 
 
 And on the tithe the tackle of the tithe 
 Thrown by in such confusion, as are laid 
 Upon the swath sickle, and hook, and scythe, 
 When midday drives the reapers to the shade. 
 And Psyche, since had come no priestess there 
 To trim the temple, in her pious care 
 Forgat herself, and lent her duteous aid. 
 
 9 
 
 She drew the offerings from the midst aside, 
 And piled the sheaves at every pillar's base ; 
 And sweeping therebetween a passage wide, 
 Made clear of corn and chaff the temple space : 
 As countrymen who bring their wheat to mart, 
 Set out their show along the walls apart 
 By their allotted stations, each in place ; 
 
 10 
 
 Thus she, and felt no weariness, — such strength 
 Hath duty to support our feeble frame, — 
 Till all was set in order, and at length 
 
104 EROS & PSYCHE 
 
 Up to the threshold of the shrine she came : 
 When lo ! before her face with friendly smile, 
 Tall as a pillar of the peristyle, 
 The goddess stood reveal'd, and calPd her name. 
 
 II 
 
 "Unhappy Psyche," said she, "know'st thou not 
 
 How Aphrodite to thy hurt is sworn? 
 
 And thou, thy peril and her wrath forgot, 
 
 Spendest thy thought my temple to adorn. 
 
 Take better heed ! " — And Psyche, at the voice 
 
 Even of so little comfort, gan rejoice, 
 
 And at her feet pour'd out this prayer forlorn. 
 
 It 
 
 " O Gracious giver of the golden grain, 
 
 Hide me, I pray thee, from her wrath unkind ; 
 
 For who can pity as canst thou my pain, 
 
 Who wert thyself a wanderer, vex'd in mind 
 
 For loss of thy dear Core once, whenas, 
 
 Ravisht to hell by fierce Agesilas, 
 
 Thou soughtest her on earth and coudst not find. 
 
OCTOBER 105 
 
 *3 
 
 " How coud thy feet bear thee to western night, 
 
 And where swart Libyans watch the sacred tree, 
 
 And thrice to ford o'er Achelous bright, 
 
 And all the streams of beauteous Sicily? 
 
 And thrice to Enna cam'st thou, thrice, they tell, 
 
 Satest athirst by Callichorus' well, 
 
 Nor tookest of the spring to comfort thee. 
 
 H 
 
 " By that remember'd anguish of thine heart, 
 Lady, have pity even on me, and show 
 Where I may find my love ; and take my part 
 For peace, I pray, against my cruel foe : 
 Or if thou canst not from her anger shield, 
 Here let me lie among the sheaves conceal'd 
 Such time till forth I may in safety go." 
 
 Demeter answer'd, " Nay, though thou constrain 
 My favour with thy plea, my help must still 
 Be hidden, else I work for thee in vain 
 
106 EROS & PSYCHE 
 
 To thwart my mighty sister in her will. 
 Thou must fly hence : Yet though I not oppose, 
 Less will I aid her ; and if now I close 
 My temple doors to thee, take it not ill." 
 
 16 
 
 Then Psyche's hope founder'd ; as when a ship, 
 The morrow of the gale can hardly ride 
 The swollen seas, fetching a deeper dip 
 At every wave, and through her gaping side 
 And o'er her shattered bulwark ever drinks, 
 Till plunging in the watery wild she sinks, 
 To scoop her grave beneath the crushing tide : 
 
 So with each word her broken spirit drank 
 Its doom ; and overwhelm'd with deep despair 
 She turn'd away, and coming forth she sank 
 Silently weeping on the temple stair, 
 In midmost night, forspent with long turmoil : 
 But sleep, the gracious pursuivant of toil, 
 Came swiftly down, and nursed away her care. 
 
OCTOBER 107 
 
 18 
 
 And when the sun awaked her with his beams 
 She found new hope, that still her sorrow's cure 
 Lay with the gods, who in her morning dreams 
 Had sent her comfort in a vision sure ; 
 Wherein the Cretan-born, almightiest god, 
 Cloud-gathering Zeus himself had seem'd to nod, 
 And bid her with good heart her woes endure. 
 
 19 
 
 So coming that same day unto a shrine 
 Of Hera, she took courage and went in : 
 And like to one that to the cell divine 
 For favour ventures or a suit to win, 
 She drew anigh the altar, from her face 
 Wiping the tears, ere to the heavenly grace, 
 As thus she pray'd, she would her prayer begin. 
 
 20 
 
 " Most honour'd Lady, who from ancient doom 
 Wert made heaven's wife, and art on earth besought 
 With gracious happiness of all to whom 
 
io8 EROS y PSYCHE 
 
 Thy holy wedlock hath ray burden brought, 
 Save me from Aphrodite's fell pursuit, 
 And guard unto the birth Love's hapless fruit, 
 Which she for cruel spite would bring to nought. 
 
 " As once from her thou wert not shamed to take 
 Her beauty's zone, thy beauty to enhance ; 
 For which again Zeus loved thee, to forsake 
 His warlike ire in faithful dalliance ; 
 Show me what means may win my Love to me, 
 Or how that I may come, if so may be, 
 Within the favour of his countenance. 
 
 22 
 
 " If there be any place for tears or prayer, 
 If there be need for succour in distress, 
 Now is the very hour of all despair, 
 Here is the heart of grief and bitterness. 
 Motherly pity, bend thy face and grant 
 One beam of ruth to thy poor suppliant, 
 Nor turn me from thine altar comfortless." 
 
 
OCTOBER 109 
 
 23 
 Even as she pray'd a cloud spread through the cell, 
 And 'mid the wreathings of the vapour dim 
 The goddess grew in glory visible, 
 Like some barbaric queen in festal trim ; 
 Such the attire and ornaments she wore, 
 When o'er the forged threshold of the floor 
 Of Zeus's house she stept to visit him. 
 
 H 
 
 From either ear, ring'd to its pierced lobe 
 A triple jewel hung, with gold enchas't ; 
 And o'er her breasts her wide ambrosial robe 
 With many a shining golden clasp was brac't ; 
 The flowering on its smooth embroider'd lawn 
 Gather'd to colour where the zone was drawn 
 In fringe of golden tassels at • » Tr aist. 
 
 25 
 
 Her curling hair with plaited braid and brail, 
 Pendant or loop'd about her head divine, 
 Lay hidden half beneath a golden veil, 
 
no EROS fcf PSYCHE 
 
 Bright as the rippling ocean in sunshine : 
 And on the ground, flashing whene'er she stept, 
 Beneath her feet the dazzling lightnings lept 
 From the gold network of her sandals fine. 
 
 Thus Hera stood in royal guise bedeckt 
 Before poor Psyche on the stair that knelt, 
 Whose new-nursed hope at that display was checkt, 
 And all her happier thoughts gan fade and melt. 
 She saw no kindness in such haughty mien, 
 And venturing not to look upon the queen, 
 Bow*d down in woe to hear her sentence dealt. 
 
 And thus the goddess spake, " In vain thou suest, 
 Most miserable Psyche ; though my heart 
 Be full of hate for her whose hate thou ruest, 
 And pride and pity move me to thy part : 
 Yet not till Zeus make known his will, coud I, 
 Least of the blameless gods that dwell on high, 
 Assist thee, wert thou worthier than thou art. 
 
OCTOBER in 
 
 28 
 
 " But know if Eros love thee, that thy hopes 
 Should rest on him ; and I would bid thee go 
 Where in his mother's house apart he mopes 
 Grieving for loss of thee in secret woe : 
 For should he take thee back, there is no power 
 In earth or heaven will hurt thee from that hour, 
 Nay, not if Zeus himself should prove thy foe." 
 
 29 
 
 Thus saying she was gone, and Psyche now 
 Surprised by comfort rose and went her way, 
 Resolved in heart, and only wondering how 
 'Twas possible to come where Eros lay ; 
 Since that her feet, however she might roam, 
 Could never travel to the heavenly home 
 Of Love, beyond the bounds of mortal day : 
 
 30 
 
 Yet must she come to him. And now 'twas proved 
 How that to Lovers, as is told in song, 
 Seeking the way no place is far removed ; 
 
ii2 EROS fcf PSYCHE 
 
 Nor is there any obstacle so strong, 
 Nor bar so fix'd that it can hinder them : 
 And how to reach heaven's gate by stratagem 
 Vex'd not the venturous heart of Psyche long. 
 
 To face her enemy might well avail : 
 Wherefore to Cypris' shrine her steps she bent, 
 Hoping the goddess in her hate might hale 
 Her body to the skies for punishment, 
 Whate'er to be ; yet now her fiercest wrath 
 Seemed happiest fortune, seeing 'twas the path 
 Whereby alone unto her love she went. 
 
NOVEMBER 
 
 BUT Aphrodite to the house of Zeus 
 Being bound, bade beckon out her milkwhite 
 steeds, 
 Four doves, that ready to her royal use 
 In golden cages stood and peck'd the seeds : 
 Best of the hundred prison'd birds she broke, 
 That wore with pride the marking of her yoke, 
 And cooed in envy of her gentle needs. 
 
 These drew in turn her chariot, when ia state 
 Along the heaven with all her train she fared ; 
 And oft in journeying to the skiey gate 
 Of Zeus's palace high their flight had dared, 
 Which darkest vapour and thick glooms enshroud 
 Above all else in the perpetual cloud, 
 Wherethro* to mount again they stood prepared, 
 i 
 
ii4 EROS esT PSYCHE 
 
 3 
 
 Sleeking their feathers, by her shining car ; 
 
 The same Hephaestos wrought for her, when he, 
 Bruised in his hideous fall from heaven afar, 
 Was nursed by Thetis, and Eurynome, 
 The daughter of the ever-refluent main ; 
 With whom he dwelt till he grew sound again, 
 Down in a hollow cave beside the sea : 
 
 4 
 And them for kindness done was prompt to serve, 
 Forging them brooches rich in make and mode, 
 Earrings, and supple chains of jointed curve, 
 And other trinkets, while he there abode : 
 And none of gods or men knew of his home, 
 But they two only ; and the salt sea-foam 
 To and fro past his cavern ever flow'd. 
 
 5 
 'Twas then he wrought this work within the cave, 
 Emboss'd with rich design, a mooned car; 
 And when returned to heaven to Venus gave, 
 
NOVEMBER 115 
 
 In form imagined like her crescent star ; 
 Which circling nearest earth, maketh at night 
 To wakeful mortal men shadow and light 
 Alone of all the stars in heaven that are. 
 
 Two slender wheels it had, with fretted tires 
 Of biting adamant, to take firm hold 
 Of cloud or ether; and their whirling fires 
 Threw off the air in halo where they rolPd : 
 And either nave that round the axle turn'd 
 A ruby was, whose steady crimson burn'd 
 Betwixt the twin speed-mingling fans of gold. 
 
 7 
 
 Thereon the naked goddess mounting ..hook 
 The reins ; whereat the doves their wings outspread, 
 And rising high their flight to heaven they took : 
 And all the birds, that in those courts were bred, 
 Of her broad eaves the nested families, 
 Sparrows and swallows join'd their companies 
 Awhile and twitter'd to her overhead. 
 
n6 EROS & PSYCHE 
 
 8 
 
 But onward she with fading tracks of flame 
 Sped swiftly, till she reacht her journey's end : 
 And when within the house of Zeus she came, 
 She pray'd the Sire of Heaven that he would lend 
 Hermes, the Argus-slayer, for her hest ; 
 And he being granted her at her request, 
 She went forthwith to seek him and to send. 
 
 9 
 
 Who happ'd within the palace then to wait 
 Upon the almighty pleasure ; and her tale 
 Was quickly told, and he made answer straight 
 That he would find the truant without fail ; 
 Asking the goddess by what signs her slave 
 Might best be known, and what the price she gave 
 For capture, or admitted for the bail. 
 
 10 
 
 All which he took his silver stile to write 
 
 In letters large upon a waxed board ; 
 
 Her age and name, her colour, face and height, 
 
NOVEMBER 117 
 
 Her home, and parentage, and the reward : 
 And then read o'er as 'twas to be proclaim'd. 
 And she took oath to give the price she named, 
 Without demur, when Psyche was restored. 
 
 Then on his head he closely set his cap 
 With ear&d wings erect, and o'er his knee 
 He cross'd each foot in turn to prove the strap 
 That bound his winged sandals, and shook free 
 His chlamys, and gat up, and in his hand 
 Taking his fair white-ribbon'd herald's wand, 
 Lept forth on air, accoutred cap-a-p&. 
 
 12 
 
 And piloting along the mid-day sky, 
 
 Held southward, till the narrow map ci' Crete 
 
 Lay like a fleck in azure 'neath his eye ; 
 
 When down he came, and as an eagle fleet 
 
 Drops in some combe, then checks his headlong stoop 
 
 With wide-flung wing, wheeling in level swoop 
 
 To strike the bleating quarry with his feet, 
 
n8 EROS fcf PSYCHE 
 
 Thus he alighted ; and in every town 
 In all the isle before the close of day- 
 Had cried the message, which he carried down, 
 Of Psyche, Aphrodite's runaway ; 
 That whosoever found the same and caught, 
 And by such time unto her temple brought, 
 To him the goddess would this guerdon pay : 
 
 Six honied kisses from her rosy mouth 
 
 Would Cytherea give, and one beside 
 
 to quench at heart for aye love's mortal drouth 
 
 But unto him that hid her, Woe betide ! 
 
 Which now was on all tongues, and Psyche's name 
 
 Herself o'erheard, or ever nigh she came 
 
 To Aphrodite's temple where she hied. 
 
 IS 
 
 When since she found her way to heaven was safe, 
 She only wisht to make it soon and sure ; 
 Nor fear'd to meet the goddess in her chafe, 
 
NOVEMBER 119 
 
 So she her self-surrender might secure, 
 And not be given of other for the price ; 
 Nor was there need of any artifice 
 Her once resplendent beauty to obscure. 
 
 16 
 
 For now so changed she was by heavy woe, 
 That for the little likeness that she bore 
 To her description she was fear'd to go 
 Within the fane ; and when she stood before 
 The priestess, scarce coud she with oath persuade 
 That she was Psyche, the renowned maid, 
 Whom men had left the temple to adore. 
 
 17 
 
 But when to Hermes she was shown and given, 
 He took no doubt, but eager to be <v\t, 
 And proud of speed, return'd with ner to heaven, 
 And left her with the proclamation writ, 
 Hung at her neck, the board with letters large, 
 At Aphrodite's gate with those in charge ; 
 And up whence first he came made haste to flit. 
 
i2o EROS & PSYCHE 
 
 18 
 
 But hapless Psyche fell, for so it chanced, 
 To moody Synethea's care, the one 
 Of Aphrodite's train whom she advanced 
 To try the work abandon'd by her son. 
 Who by perpetual presence made ill end 
 Of good or bad ; though she could both amend, 
 And merit praise for work by her begun. 
 
 But she to better thought her heart had shut, 
 And proved she had a spite beyond compare : 
 Nor could the keenest taunts her anger glut, 
 Which she when sour'd was never wont to spare : 
 And now she mock'd at Psyche's shame and grief, 
 As only she might do, and to her chief 
 Along the courtyard dragg'd her by the hair. 
 
 20 
 
 Nor now was Aphrodite kinder grown : 
 Having her hated rival in her power, 
 She laught for joy, and in triumphant tone 
 
NOVEMBER 121 
 
 Bade her a merry welcome to her bower : 
 u, Tis fit indeed daughters-in-law should wait 
 Upon their mothers ; but thou comest late, 
 Psyche ; I lookt for thee before this hour. 
 
 21 
 
 " And yet," thus gave she rein to jeer and gibe, 
 
 " Forgive me if I held thee negligent, 
 
 Or if accustom'd vanity ascribe 
 
 An honour to myself that was not meant. 
 
 Thy lover is it, who so dearly prized 
 
 The pretty soul, then left her and despised ? 
 
 To him more like thy heavenward steps were bent : 
 
 22 
 
 " Nor without reason : Zeus, I tell thee, swoon'd 
 
 To hear the story of the drop of oil, 
 
 The revelation and the ghastly wound : 
 
 My merriment is but my fear's recoil. 
 
 But if my son was unkind, thou shalt see 
 
 How kind a goddess can his mother be 
 
 To bring thy tainted honour clear of soil." 
 
122 EROS fef PSYCHE 
 
 23 
 And so, to match her promise with her mirth, 
 Two of her ministers she call'd in ken, 
 That work the melancholy of the earth ; 
 Merimna that with care perplexes, when 
 The hearts of mortals have the gods forgot, 
 And Lype, that her sorrow spares them not, 
 When mortals have forgot their fellow men. 
 
 These, like twin sharks that in a fair ship's wake 
 Swim constant, showing 'bove the water blue 
 Their shearing fins, and hasty ravin make 
 Of overthrow or offal, so these two 
 On Aphrodite's passing follow hard ; 
 And now she offer'd to their glut's regard 
 Sweet Psyche, with command their wont to do. 
 
 But in what secret chamber their foul task 
 These soul-tormentors plied, or what their skill, 
 Pity of tender nature may not ask, 
 
NOVEMBER 123 
 
 Nor poet stain his rhyme with such an ill. 
 But they at last themselves turn'd from their rack, 
 Weary of cruelty, and led her back, 
 Saying that further torture were to kill. 
 
 26 
 
 Then when the goddess saw her, more she mockt, 
 " Art thou the woman of the earth," she said, 
 " That hast in sorceries mine Eros lockt, 
 And stood thyself for worship in my stead ? 
 Looking that I should pity thee, or care 
 For what illicit offspring thou mayst bear ; 
 Or let thee to that god my son be wed ? 
 
 •* I know thy trick ; and thou art one of them 
 Who steal love's favour in the gentle -ay, 
 Wearing submission for a diadem, 
 Patience and suffering for thy rich array : 
 Thou wilt be modest, kind, implicit, so 
 To rest thy wily spirit out of show 
 That it may leap the livelier into play : 
 
124 EROS fcf PSYCHE 
 
 28 
 
 " Devout at doing nothing, if so be 
 
 The grace become thee well ; but active yet 
 
 Above all others be there none to see 
 
 Thy business, and thine eager face asweat. 
 
 Lo ! I will prove thy talent : thou mayst live, 
 
 And all thou now desirest will I give, 
 
 If thou perform the task which I shall set." 
 
 She took her then aside, and bade her heed 
 A heap of grains piled high upon the floor, 
 Millet and mustard, hemp and poppy seed, 
 And fern-bloom's undistinguishable spore, 
 All kinds of pulse, of grasses, and of spice, 
 Clover and linseed, rape, and corn, and rice, 
 Dodder, and sesame, and many more. 
 
 30 
 
 " Sort me these seeds " she said ; " it now is night, 
 I will return at morning ; if I find 
 That thou hast separated all aright, 
 
NOVEMBER 125 
 
 Each grain from other grain after its kind, 
 And set them in unmingl'd heaps apart, 
 Then shall thy wish be granted to thine heart." 
 Whereat she turn'd, and closed the door behind. 
 
FOURTH QUARTER 
 
 caimter 
 
 Psych is trials and reception into heaven. 
 
 t 
 
DECEMBER 
 
 A SINGLE lamp there stood beside the heap, 
 And shed thereon its mocking golden light ; 
 Such as might tempt the weary eye to sleep 
 Rather than prick the nerve of tasked sight. 
 Yet Psyche, not to fail for lack of zeal, 
 With good will sat her down to her ordeal, 
 Sorting the larger seeds as best she might. 
 
 When lo ! upon the wall, a shadow past 
 Of doubtful shape, across the chamber ^.'m 
 Moving with speed : and seeing nought that cast 
 The shade, she bent her down the flame to trim ; 
 And there the beast itself, a little ant, 
 Climb'd up in compass of the lustre scant, 
 Upon the bowl of oil ran round the rim. 
 
1 3 o EROS &T PSYCHE 
 
 3 
 
 Smiling to see the creature of her fear 
 
 So dwarf 'd by truth, she watcht him where he crept, 
 
 For mere distraftion telling in his ear 
 
 What straits she then was in, and telling wept. 
 
 Whereat he stood and trim'd his horns ; but ere 
 
 Her tale was done resumed his manner scare, 
 
 Ran down, and on his way in darkness kept. 
 
 4 
 But she intent drew forth with dextrous hand 
 The larger seeds, or push'd the smaller back, 
 Or light from heavy with her breathing fan'd. 
 When suddenly she saw the floor grow black, 
 And troops of ants, flowing in noiseless train, 
 Moved to the hill of seeds, as o'er a plain 
 Armies approach a city for attack ; 
 
 5 
 And gathering on the grain, began to strive 
 With grappling horns : and each from out the heap 
 His burden drew, and all their motion live 
 
DECEMBER 131 
 
 Struggled and slid upon the surface steep. 
 And Psyche wonder'd, watching them, to find 
 The creatures separated kind from kind : 
 Till dizzied with the sight she fell asleep. 
 
 And when she woke 'twas with the morning sound 
 Of Aphrodite's anger at the door, 
 Whom high amaze stay'd backward, as she found 
 Her foe asleep with all her trouble o'er : 
 And round the room beheld, in order due, 
 The piles arranged distinct and sorted true, 
 Grain with grain, seed with seed, and spore with 
 spore. 
 
 7 
 She fiercely cried "Thou shalt not thus escape; 
 For to this marvel dar'st thou not preK, . 
 There is but one that could this order shape, 
 Demeter, — but I knew her not thy friend. 
 Therefore another trial will I set, 
 In which she cannot aid thee nor abet, 
 But thou thyself must bringit fair to end." 
 
132 EROS fcf PSYCHE 
 
 8 
 
 Thereon she sped her to the bounds of Thrace, 
 And set her by a river deep and wide, 
 And said " To east beyond this stream, a race 
 Of golden-fleeced sheep at pasture bide. 
 Go seek them out ; and this thy task, to pull 
 But one lock for me of their precious wool, 
 And give it in my hands at eventide : 
 
 9 
 " This do and thou shalt have thy heart's desire." 
 Which said, she fled and left her by the stream : 
 And Psyche then, with courage still entire 
 Had plunged therein ; but now of great esteem 
 Her life she rated, while it lent a spell 
 Wherein she yet might hope to quit her well, 
 And in one winning all her woes redeem. 
 
 10 
 
 There as she stood in doubt, a fluting voice 
 Rose from the flood, " Psyche, be not afraid 
 To hear a reed give tongue, for 'twas of choice 
 
DECEMBER 133 
 
 That I from mortal flesh a plant was made. 
 My name is Syrinx ; once from mighty Pan 
 Into the drowning river as I ran, 
 A fearful prayer my steps for ever stay'd. 
 
 II 
 
 " But by that change in many climes I live ; 
 And Pan, my lover, who to me alone 
 Is true and does me honour, I forgive — 
 Nor if I speak in sorrow is't my own : 
 Rather for thee my voice I now uplift 
 To warn thee plunge not in the river swift, 
 Nor seek the golden sheep to men unknown. 
 
 12 
 
 " If thou should cross the stream, which may not be 
 
 Thou coudst not climb upon the hanging rocks, 
 
 Nor ever, as the goddess bade thee, sec 
 
 The pasture of the yellow-fleeced flocks : 
 
 Or if thou coud, their herded horns would gore 
 
 And slay thee on the crags, or thrust thee o'er 
 
 Ere thou coudst rob them of their golden locks. 
 
*^134 EROS fcf PSYCHE 
 
 13 
 
 " The goddess means thy death. But I can show- 
 How thy obedience yet may thwart her will. 
 At noon the golden flocks descend below, 
 Leaving the scented herbage of the hill, 
 And where the shelving banks to shallows fall, 
 Drink at the rippling water one and all, 
 Nor back return till they have drawn their fill. 
 
 H 
 
 " I will command a thornbush, that it stoop 
 Over some ram that steppeth by in peace, 
 And him in all its prickles firmly coop, 
 Making thee seizure of his golden fleece ; 
 So without peril of his angry horns 
 Shalt thou be quit : for he upon the thorns 
 Must leave his ransom ere he win release." 
 
 Then Psyche thankt her for her kind befriending, 
 
 And hid among the rushes looking east ; 
 
 And when noon came she saw the flock descending 
 
DECEMBER 135 
 
 Out of the hills ; and lo ! one golden beast 
 Caught in a thornbush ; and the mighty brute 
 Struggl'd and tore it from its twisted root 
 Into the stream, or e'er he was releas't. 
 
 16 
 
 And when they water'd were and gone, the breeze 
 Floated the freighted thorn where Psyche lay : 
 Whence she unhook'd the golden wool at ease, 
 And back to heaven for passage swift gan pray. 
 And Hermes, who was sent to be her guide 
 Ifso she lived, came down at eventide, 
 And bore her thither ere the close of day. 
 
 But when the goddess saw the locks of gold 
 Held to her hands, her heart with wrar. o'erran : 
 " Most desperate thou, and by abetting bold, 
 That dost outwit me, prove thee as I can. 
 Yet this work is not thine : there is but one 
 Of all the gods who coud the thing have done. 
 Hast thou a friend too in the lusty Pan ? 
 
136 EROS fcf PSYCHE 
 
 18 
 
 " I'll give thee trial where he cannot aid." 
 Which said, she led her to a torrid land, 
 Level and black, but not with flood or shade, 
 For nothing coud the mighty heat withstand, 
 Which aye from morn till eve the naked sun 
 Pour'd on that plain, where never foot had run, 
 Nor any herb sprung on its molten sand. 
 
 19 
 
 Far off a gloomy mountain rose alone : 
 
 And Aphrodite, thither pointing, said 
 
 " There lies thy task. Out of the topmost stone 
 
 Of yonder hill upwells a fountain head. 
 
 Take thou this goblet ; brimming must thou bring 
 
 Its cup with water from that sacred spring, 
 
 If ever to my son thou wouldst be wed." 
 
 20 
 
 Saying, she gave into her hands a bowl 
 Cut of one crystal, open, broad and fair ; 
 And bade her at all hazard keep it whole, 
 
DECEMBER 137 
 
 For heaven held nought beside so fine or rare. 
 Then was she gone ; and Psyche on the plain 
 Now doubted if she ever should regain 
 The love of Eros, strove she howsoe'er. 
 
 Yet as a helmsman, at the word to tack, 
 Swiftly without a thought puts down his helm, 
 So Psyche turn'd to tread that desert black, 
 Since was no fear that coud her heart o'erwhelm ; 
 Nor knew she that the fount she went to seek 
 Was cold Cocytus, springing to the peak, 
 Secretly from his source in Pluto's realm. 
 
 22 
 
 All night and day she journey'd, and at 1;.st 
 
 Come to the rock gazed up in vain ar; and : < 
 
 Nothing she saw but precipices vast 
 
 O'er ruined scarps, with rugged ridges crown'd : 
 
 And creeping to a cleft to rest in shade, 
 
 Or e'er the desperate venture she assay'd, 
 
 She fell asleep upon the stony ground. 
 
1 38 EROS fcf PSYCHE 
 
 A dream came to her, thus : she stood alone 
 
 Within her palace in the high ravine ; 
 
 Where nought but she was changed, but she to stone. 
 
 Worshippers throng'd the court, and still were seen 
 
 Folk flying from the peak, who, ever more 
 
 Flying and flying, lighted on the floor, 
 
 Hail! cried they, wife of Eros, adored queen ! 
 
 24 
 A hurtling of the battl'd air disturb'd 
 Her sunken sense, and waked her eyes to meet 
 The kingly bird of Zeus, himself that curb'd 
 His swooping course, alighting at her feet ; 
 With motion gentle, his far-darting eye 
 In kindness dim'd upon her, he drew nigh, 
 And thus in words unveil'd her foe's deceit : 
 
 " In vain, poor Psyche, hast thou hither striven 
 Across the fiery plain toiling so well ; 
 Cruelly to destruction art thou driven 
 
DECEMBER 139 
 
 By her, whose hate thou canst not quit nor quell. 
 No mortal foot may scale this horrid mount, 
 And those black waters of its topmost fount 
 Are guarded by the horned snakes of hell. 
 
 26 
 
 "Its little rill is an upleaping jet 
 Of cold Cocytus, which for ever licks 
 Earth's base, and when with Acheron 'tis met, 
 Its waters with that other cannot mix, 
 Which holds the elemental air dissolved ; 
 But with it in its ceaseless course revolved 
 Issues unmingPd in the lake of Styx. 
 
 "The souls of murderers, in guise offish, 
 Scream as they swim therein and wai ! ot cold, 
 Their times of woe determined by the wish 
 Of them they murder'd on the earth of old : 
 Whom each five years they see, whene'er they make 
 Their passage on the Acherusian lake, 
 And there release may win from pains condoled. 
 
 / 
 
140 EROS & PSYCHE 
 
 28 
 
 " For if the pitying ear of them they slew 
 
 Be haply pierced by their voices spare, 
 
 Then are they freed from pain ; as are some few ; 
 
 But, for the most, again they forward fare 
 
 To Tartarus obscene, and outcast thence 
 
 Are hurried back into the cold intense, 
 
 And with new company their torments share. 
 
 29 
 
 " Its biting lymph may not be touch'd of man 
 Or god, unless the Fates have so ordain'd ; 
 Nor coud I in thy favour break the ban, 
 Nor pass the dragons that thereby are chain'd, 
 Didst thou not bear the sacred cup of Zeus ; 
 Which, for thy peril lent, shall turn to use, 
 And truly do the service which it feign'd." 
 
 30 
 
 Thus as he spake, his talons made he ring 
 Around the crystal bowl, and soaring high 
 Descended as from heaven upon the spring ; 
 
DECEMBER 141 
 
 Nor dared the horned snakes of hell deny 
 The minister of Zeus, that bore his cup, 
 To fill it with their trusted water up, 
 Thence to the King of heaven therewith to fly. 
 
 But he to Psyche bent his gracious speed, 
 And bidding her to mount his feather'd back 
 Bore her aloft as once young Ganymede ; 
 Nor ever made his steady flight to slack, 
 Ere that he set her down beside her goal, 
 And gave into her hands the crystal bowl 
 Unspill'd, o'erbrimming with the water black. 
 
JANUARY 
 
 BUT Eros now recover'd from his hurt, 
 Felt other pangs ; for who would not relent 
 Weighing the small crime and unmatch'd desert 
 Of Psyche with her cruel punishment ? 
 And shamed he grew to be so near allied 
 To her, who by her taunts awoke his pride, 
 As his compassion by her spite unspent. 
 
 Which Aphrodite seeing, wax'd more firm 
 That he should never meet with Psyche more ; 
 And had in thought already set the term 
 To their communion with that trial sore, 
 Which sent her forth upon a quest accurst, 
 And not to be accomplisht, that of thirst 
 She there might perish on hell's torrid shore. 
 
JANUARY 143 
 
 3 
 And now it chanced that she had called her son 
 Into her presence-chamber, to unfold 
 Psyche's destru&ion, that her fate might stun 
 What love remained by duty uncontrol'd ; 
 And he to hide his tears' rebellious storm 
 Was fled ; when in his place another form 
 Rose 'neath the golden lintel ; and behold 
 
 4 
 Psyche herself, in slow and balanced strain, 
 Poising the crystal bowl with fearful heed, 
 Her eyes at watch upon the steadied plane, 
 And whole soul gather'd in the single deed. 
 Onward she came, and stooping to the floor 
 Set down the cup unspill'd and brimming o'er 
 At Aphrodite's feet, and rose up freed. 
 
 5 
 
 Surprise o'ercame the goddess, and she too 
 Stood like a statue, but with passion pale : 
 Till, when her victim nothing spake, she threw 
 
144 EROS fcf PSYCHE 
 
 Some kindness in her voice, and bade her hail ; 
 But in the smiling judge 'twas plain to see — 
 Saying "What water bringst thou here to me ?' ] 
 That justice over hate should not prevail. 
 
 Then Psyche said " This is the biting flood 
 
 Of black Cocytus, silver'd with the gleam 
 
 Of souls, that guilty of another's blood 
 
 Are pent therein, and as they swim they scream. 
 
 The horned snakes of hell, upon the mount 
 
 Enchain'd, for ever guard the livid fount : 
 
 And but the Fates can grant to touch the stream." 
 
 7 
 " Wherefore," the goddess cried, "'tis plain that none 
 But one I wot of coud this thing have wrought. 
 That which another doth may well be done, 
 Nor thou the nearer to my promise brought. 
 Thou buildest on a hope to be destroy'd, 
 If thou accept conditions, and avoid 
 Thy parcel, nor thyself accomplish aught. 
 
JANUARY 145 
 
 8 
 
 " Was it not kindness in me, being averse 
 
 To all thy wish, to yield me thus to grant 
 
 Thy heart's desire, — and nothing loathe I worse, — 
 
 If thou wouldst only work as well as want ? 
 
 See, now I will not yet be all denial, 
 
 But offer thee one last determining trial ; 
 
 And let it be a mutual covenant : 
 
 9 
 " This box," and in her hands she took a pyx 
 Square-cut, of dark obsidian's rarest green, 
 " Take ; and therewith beyond Tartarean Styx 
 Go thou, and entering Hades' house obscene, 
 Say to Persephone, If 'tis thy will 
 To shew me so much favour, prithee Jill 
 This little vase with beauty for Love's queen. 
 
 10 
 
 " She begs but what shall well o'er last a da) .• 
 For of her own was much of late out spent 
 In nursing of her son, in bed who lay 
 
 L 
 
146 EROS & PSYCHE 
 
 Wounded by me, who for the gift am sent. 
 
 Then bring me what she gives, and with all speed ; 
 
 For truth to say I stand, thou seest, in need 
 
 Of some such charm in my disparagement. 
 
 " If thou return to me with that acquist, 
 
 Having thyself the journey made, I swear 
 
 That day to give thee whatsoe'er thou list, 
 
 An be it my son. Now, Psyche, wilt thou dare ? " 
 
 And Psyche said " If this thou truly mean, 
 
 I will go down to Tartarus obscene, 
 
 And beg of Hades' queen thy beauty there. 
 
 12 
 
 " Show me the way." But Aphrodite said, 
 
 "That mayst thou find. Yet I will place thee 
 
 whence 
 A way there is : mortals have on it sped ; 
 Ay, and return'd thereby : so let us hence." 
 Then swift to earth her willing prey she bore, 
 And left her on the wide Laconian shore, 
 Alone, at midnight, in the darkness dense. 
 
JANUARY 147 
 
 13 
 'Twas winter ; and as shivering Psyche sat 
 Waiting for morn, she question'd in her mind 
 What place the goddess meant, arrived whereat 
 She might descend to hell, or how should find 
 The way which Gods to living men deny. 
 "No Orpheus, nay, nor Hercules am I," 
 Said she, " to loosen where the great Gods bind." 
 
 And when at length the long-delaying dawn 
 
 Broke on the peaks of huge Taygetus, 
 
 And Psyche through the skirts of dark withdrawn 
 
 Look'd on that promontory mountainous, 
 
 And saw high-crested Taleton in snow, 
 
 Her heart sank, and she wept with head bent low 
 
 The malice of her foe dispiteous. 
 
 And seeing near at hand an ancient tower, 
 
 Deserted now, but once a hold of men, 
 
 She came thereto, and, though 'twas all her power, 
 
148 EROS fcf PSYCHE 
 
 Mounted its steep unbroken stair again. 
 " Surely," she said, for now a second time 
 She thought to die — " this little height I climb 
 Will prove my shortest road to Pluto's den. 
 
 16 
 
 " Hence must I come to Tartarus ; once there 
 Turn as I may," and straight to death had sprung ; 
 When in the mossy tower the imprison'd air 
 Was shaken, and its hoary stones gave tongue, 
 "Stand firm! stand firm!" that rugged voice out- 
 cried ; 
 " Of such as choose despondency for guide 
 Hast thou not heard what bitterest fate is sung ? 
 
 17 
 " Hearken ; for I the road and means can teach 
 How thou mayst come to hell and yet escape. 
 And first must thou, that upper gate to reach, 
 Along these seagirt hills thy journey shape, 
 To where the land in sea dips furthest South 
 At Taenarus and Hades' earthly mouth, 
 Hard by Poseidon's temple at the cape. 
 
JANUARY 149 
 
 18 
 
 " Thereby may one descend : but they that make 
 
 That passage down must go provided well. 
 
 So take in either hand a honey-cake 
 
 Of pearled barley mix'd with hydromel ; 
 
 And in thy mouth two doits, first having bound 
 
 The pyx beneath thy robe enwrap'd around : 
 
 Thus set thou forth ; and mark what more I tell. 
 
 19 
 
 " When thou hast gone alone some half thy road 
 Thou wilt o'ertake a lame outwearied ass ; 
 And one that beats him, tottering 'neath his load 
 Of loosely bundl'd wood, will cry Alas; 
 Help me, kind friend, my faggots to adjust ! 
 But thou that silly cripple's words mistrust ; 
 'Tis planted for thy death. Note it and pass. 
 
 20 
 
 "And when thy road the Stygian river joins, 
 Where woolly Charon ferries o'er the dead, 
 He will demand his fare : one of thy coins 
 
150 EROS 6f PSYCHE 
 
 Force with thy tongue between thy teeth, thy head 
 
 Offering instead of hand to give the doit. 
 
 His fingers in this custom are adroit, 
 
 And thine must not set down the barleybread. 
 
 " Then in his crazy bark as, ferrying o'er 
 The stream, thou sittest, one that seems to float 
 Rather than swim, midway 'twixt shore and shore, 
 Will stretch his fleshless hand upon the boat, 
 And beg thee of thy pity take him in. 
 Shut thy soft ear unto his clamour thin, 
 Nor for a phantom deed thyself devote. 
 
 22 
 
 " Next, on the further bank when thou art stept, 
 Three wizen'd women weaving at the woof 
 Will stop, and pray thee in their art adept 
 To free their tangPd threads. Hold thou aloof; 
 For this and other traps thy foe hath plan'd 
 To make thee drop the cakes out of thy hand, 
 Putting thy prudence to perpetual proof. 
 
JANUARY 151 
 
 23 
 
 " For by one cake thou comest into Hell, 
 And by one cake departest ; since the hound 
 That guards the gate is ever pleased well 
 To taste man's meal, or sweeten'd grain unground 
 Cast him a cake ; for that thou mayst go free 
 Even to the mansion of Persephone, 
 Withouten stay or peril, safe and sound. 
 
 H 
 
 " She will receive thee kindly ; thou decline 
 
 Her courtesies, and make the floor thy seat ; 
 
 Refusing all is offer'd, food or wine ; 
 
 Save only beg a crust of bread to eat. 
 
 Then tell thy mission, and her present take ; 
 
 Which when thou hast, set forth with pyx and cake, 
 
 One in each hand, while yet thou mayst retreat. 
 
 " Giving thy second cake to Cerberus, 
 The coin to Charon, and that way whereby 
 Thou earnest following, thou comest thus 
 
152 EROS fcf PSYCHE 
 
 To see again the starry choir on high. 
 But guard thou well the pyx, nor once uplift 
 The lid to look on Persephassa's gift; 
 Else 'tis in vain I bid thee now not die." 
 
 26 
 
 Then Psyche thank'd the tower, and stoopt her 
 mouth 
 To kiss the stones upon his rampart hoary ; 
 And coming down his stair went hasting south, 
 Along the steep Taenarian promontory : 
 And found the cave and temple by the cape, 
 And took the cakes and coins, and made escape 
 Beneath the earth, according to his story. 
 
 27 
 And overtook the ass, but lent no aid ; 
 And ofFer'd Charon with her teeth his fee ; 
 And pass'd the floating ghost, in vain who pray'd ; 
 And turned her back upon the weavers three : 
 And threw the cake he loved to that hell-hound 
 Three-headed Cerberus ; and safe and sound, 
 Came to the mansion of Persephone. 
 
JANUARY 153 
 
 28 
 
 Kindly received she courtesy declined ; 
 
 Sat on the ground ; ate not, save where she lay 
 
 A crust of bread ; reveal'd the goddess' mind ; 
 
 The gift took ; and return'd upon her way : 
 
 Gave Cerberus his cake, Charon his fare, 
 
 And saw through Hell's mouth to the purple air 
 
 And one by one the keen stars melt in day. 
 
 29 
 
 Awhile from so long journeying in the shades 
 Resting at Taenarus she came to know 
 How, on the eastern coast, some forty stades, 
 There stood a temple of her goddess foe. 
 There would she make her offering, there reclaim 
 The prize, which now 'twas happiness to name, 
 The joy that should redeem all passed woe. 
 
 30 
 And wending by the sunny shore at noon, 
 She with her pyx, and wondering what it hid, 
 Of what kind, what the fashion of the boon 
 
154 EROS &T PSYCHE 
 
 She carried, but to look on was forbid, — 
 Alas for Innocence so hard to teach ! — 
 At fancy's prick she sat her on the beach, 
 And to content desire lifted the lid. 
 
 31 
 She saw within nothing : But o'er her sight 
 That looked on nothing gan a darkness creep. 
 A cloudy poison, mix'd of Stygian night, 
 Rapt her to deadly and infernal sleep. 
 Backward she fell, like one when all is o'er, 
 And lay outstretch'd, as lies upon the shore 
 A drown'd corpse cast up by the murmuring deep. 
 
FEBRUARY 
 
 WHILE Eros in his chamber hid his tears, 
 Mourning the loss of Psyche and her fate, 
 The rumour of her safety reacht his ears 
 And how she came to Aphrodite's gate : 
 Whereat with hope return'd his hardihood, 
 And secretly he purposed while he coud 
 Himself to save her from the goddess' hate. 
 
 Then learning what he might and guessing more, 
 His ready wit came soon to understand 
 The journey tq the far Laconian shore; 
 Whither to fly and seek his love he plan'd : 
 And making good escape in dark of night, 
 Ere the sun crost his true meridian flight 
 He by Teuthrone struck the southern strand. 
 
156 EROS & PSYCHE 
 
 3 
 There as it chanc~t he found that snowy bird 
 Of Crete, that late made mischief with his queen, 
 And now along the cliffs with wings unstir'd 
 Sail'd, and that morn had cross'd the sea between : 
 Whom as he past he hail'd, and question'd thus, 
 " O snowy gull, if thou from Taenarus 
 Be come, say, hast thou there my Psyche seen ? " 
 
 4 
 The gull replied ■ Thy Psyche have I seen ; 
 Walking beside the sea she joy'th to bear 
 A pyx of dark obsidian's rarest green, 
 Wherein she gazeth on her features fair. 
 She is not hence by now six miles at most." 
 Then Eros bade him speed, and down the coast 
 Held on his passage through the buoyant air. 
 
 5 
 
 With eager eye he search'd the salty marge 
 Boding all mischief from his mother's glee ; 
 And wondering of her wiles, and what the charge 
 
FEBRUARY 157 
 
 Shut in the dark obsidian pyx might be. 
 And lo ! at last, outstretch'd beside the rocks, 
 Psyche as lifeless ; and the open box 
 Laid with the weedy refuse of the sea. 
 
 6 
 
 He guess'd all, flew down, and beside her knelt, 
 With both his hands stroking her temples wan ; 
 And for the poison with his fingers felt, 
 And drew it gently from her ; and anon 
 She slowly from those Stygian fumes was freed ; 
 Which he with magic handling and good heed 
 Replaced in pyx, and shut the lid thereon. 
 
 7 
 
 " O Psyche," thus, and kissing her he cried, 
 " O simple-hearted Psyche, once again 
 Hast thou thy foolish longing gratified, 
 A second time hath prying been thy bane. 
 But lo ! I, love, am come, for I am thine : 
 Nor ever more shall any fate malign, 
 Or spite of goddess smite our love in twain. 
 
158 EROS fcf PSYCHE 
 
 8 
 
 " Let now that I have saved thee twice outweigh 
 The once that I deserted thee : and thou 
 Hast much obey'd for once to disobey, 
 And wilt no more my bidding disallow. 
 Take up thy pyx ; to Aphrodite go, 
 And claim the promise of thy mighty foe ; 
 Maybe that she will grant it to thee now. 
 
 9 
 
 " If she should yet refuse, despair not yet ! * 
 Then Psyche, when she felt his arms restore 
 Their old embrace, and as their bodies met, 
 Knew the great joy that grief is pardon'd for; 
 And how it doth first ecstasy excel, 
 When love well-known, long-lost, and mourned well 
 In long days of no hope, comes home once more. 
 
 io 
 
 But Eros leaping up with purpose keen 
 Into the air, as only love can fly, 
 Bore her to heaven, and setting her unseen 
 
FEBRUARY 159 
 
 At Aphrodite's golden gate, — whereby 
 They came as night was close on twilight dini, — 
 There left, and bidding her say nought of him, 
 Went onward to the house of Zeus most high. 
 
 11 
 
 Where winning audience of the heavenly sire, 
 
 Who well disposed to him was used to be, 
 
 He told the story of his strong desire ; 
 
 And boldly begg'd that Zeus would grant his plea, 
 
 That he might have sweet Psyche for his wife, 
 
 And she be dower'd with immortal life, 
 
 Since she was worthy, by his firm decree. 
 
 12 
 
 And great Zeus smiled ; and at the smile of Zeus 
 All heaven was glad, and on the earth below 
 Was calm and peace awhile and sorrow's truce : 
 The sun shone forth and smote the winter snow, 
 The flowers sprang, the birds gan sing and pair, 
 And mortals, as they drew the brighten'd air 
 Marvel'd, and quite forgot their common woe. 
 
160 EROS esT PSYCHE 
 
 13 
 
 Yet gave the Thunderer not his full consent 
 Without some words: "At length is come the day," 
 Thus spake he, " when for all thy youth misspent, 
 Thy mischief-making and thy wanton play 
 Thou art upgrown to taste the sweet and sour : 
 Good shall it work upon thee : from this hour 
 Look we for better things. And this I say, 
 
 14 
 
 " That since thy birth, which all we took for bliss, 
 Thou hast but mock'd us ; and no less on me 
 Hast brought disfavour and contempt ywiss, 
 Than others that have had to do with thee : 
 Till only such as vow'd themselves aloof 
 From thee and thine were held in good aproof ; 
 And few there were, who thus of shame went free. 
 
 " That punishment is shapen as reward 
 Is like thy fortune : but our good estate 
 We honour, while we sit to be adored : 
 
FEBRUARY 161 
 
 And thus 'twas written in the book of Fate. 
 Not for thy pleasure, but the general weal 
 Grant I the grace for which thou here dost kneel ; 
 And that which I determine shall not wait." 
 
 16 
 
 So winged Hermes through the heaven he sped, 
 To warn the high celestials to his hall, 
 Where they should Psyche see with Eros wed, 
 And keep the day with feast ambrosial. 
 And Hermes, flying through the skiey ways 
 Of high Olympus, spread sweet Psyche's praise, 
 And bade the mighty gods obey his call. 
 
 Then all the Kronian gods and goddesses 
 Assembl'd at his cry, — and now 'twas known 
 Why Zeus had smiled, — the lesser majesties 
 Attending them before his royal throne. 
 Athena, mistress good of them that know, 
 Came, and Apollo, warder off of woe, 
 Who had to Psyche's sire her fate foreshown ; 
 
1 6z EROS & PSYCHE 
 
 18 
 
 Demeter, giver of the golden corn, 
 Fair Hebe, honour'd at her Attic shrine, 
 And Artemis with hunting spear and horn, 
 And Dionysos, planter of the vine 
 With old Poseidon from the barren sea, 
 And Leto, and the lame Hephaestos, he 
 Himself who built those halls with skill divine. 
 
 And ruddy Pan with many a quip and quirk 
 Air'd 'mong those lofty gods his mirth illbred, 
 Bearing a mighty bowl of Cretan work : 
 Stern Ares, with his crisp hair helmeted, 
 Came, and retired Hestia, and the god 
 Hermes, with winged cap and ribbon 'd rod, 
 By whom the company was heralded. 
 
 20 
 
 And Hera sat by Zeus, and all around 
 
 The Muses, that of learning make their choice ; 
 
 Who, when Apollo struck his strings to sound, 
 
FEBRUARY 163 
 
 Sang in alternate music with sweet voice : 
 And righteous Themis, and the Graces three 
 Ushering the anger'd Aphrodite ; she 
 Alone of all were there might not rejoice, 
 
 21 
 
 But ere they sat to feast, Zeus bade them fill 
 
 The cup ambrosial of immortal life, 
 
 And said " If Psyche drink, — and 'tis my will, — 
 
 There is an end of this unhappy strife. 
 
 Nor can the goddess, whose mislike had birth 
 
 From too great honour paid the bride on earth, 
 
 Forbid her any more for Eros' wife." 
 
 22 
 
 Then Aphrodite said " So let it be." 
 
 And Psyche was brought in, with such a flush 
 
 Of joy upon her face, as there to see 
 
 Was fairer to love's eye than beauty's blush. 
 
 And then she drank the eternal wine, whose draught 
 
 Can Terror cease : which flesh hath never quaflt, 
 
 Nor doth it flow from grape that mortals crush. 
 
1 64 EROS esT PSYCHE 
 
 23 
 
 And next stood Eros forth, and took her hand, 
 
 And kisst her happy face before them all : 
 
 And Zeus proclaimed them married, and outban'd 
 
 From heaven whoever should that word miscall. 
 
 And then all sat to feast, and one by one 
 
 Pledged Psyche ere they drank and cried Well done ! 
 
 And merry laughter rang throughout the hall. 
 
 24 
 
 So thus was Eros unto Psyche wed, 
 The heavenly bridegroom to his earthly bride, 
 Who won his love, in simple maidenhead : 
 And by her love herself she glorified, 
 And him from wanton wildness disinclined ; 
 Since in his love for her he came to find 
 A joy unknown through all Olympus wide. 
 
 And Psyche for her fall was quite forgiven, 
 Since 'gainst herself when tempted to rebel, 
 By others' malice on her ruin driven, 
 
FEBRUARY 165 
 
 Only of sweet simplicity she fell : — 
 Wherein who fall may fall unto the skies ; — 
 And being foolish she was yet most wise, 
 And took her trials patiently and well. 
 
 26 
 
 And Aphrodite since her full defeat 
 
 Is kinder and less jealous than before, 
 
 And smiling on them both, calls Psyche sweet ; 
 
 But thinks her son less manly than of yore : 
 
 Though still she holds his arm of some renown, 
 
 When he goes smiting mortals up and down, 
 
 Piercing their marrow with his weapons sore. 
 
 So now in steadfast love and happy state 
 
 They hold for aye their mansion in the sky, 
 
 And send down heavenly peace on those who mate, 
 
 In virgin love, to find their joy thereby : 
 
 Whom gently Eros shooteth, and apart 
 
 Keepeth for them from all his sheaf that dart 
 
 Which Psyche in his chamber pickt to try. 
 
166 EROS esf PSYCHE 
 
 28 
 
 Now in that same month Psyche bare a child, 
 Who straight in heaven was named Hedone 
 In mortal tongues by other letters styled ; 
 Whom all to love, however named, agree : 
 Whom in our noble English JOY we call, 
 And honour them among us most of all, 
 Whose happy children are as fair as she. 
 
 29 
 ENVOY 
 
 IT IS MY PRAYER THAT SHE MAY SMILE ON ALL 
 WHO READ MY TALE AS SHE HATH SMILED ON ME. 
 
NOTE 
 
NOTE 
 On the Spelling 
 
 SINCE many readers will probably remark the 
 spelling of this poem, I will give some explana- 
 tion of it, so as to escape, if I may, from the reproach 
 of mere peculiarity. The poem being a narrative, — 
 and it is little more than a translation of Apuleius' 
 tale, — the past tenses and participles of verbs occur 
 very frequently, and these being in the common 
 spelling overloaded with mute letters, I saw that 
 it would much lighten the look of the verse to spell 
 them as they are often spelt, and have been spelt 
 from the first, in a shortened form, as they are 
 pronounced. 
 
 The first rule seemed to be never to admit any 
 mute letter which was not in the present tense. 
 Thus while name makes named, maim makes maim'd, 
 the apostrophe being a concession to common use. 
 With regard to words which have their perfect tense 
 sometimes spelt with a t, as kissed, which in many 
 books appears as kist, these are really pronounced 
 with d or t according to the sound which happens 
 
NOTE ON THE SPELLING 169 
 
 to follow them : thus they take d before a vowel or 
 soft th, but / before an aspirate or a pause. The 
 apparent inconsistency in the text is due to obser- 
 vation of the actual pronunciation. As to words 
 like wrinkled, which is here spelt wrinkPd, this 
 spelling will be quite familiar when " Paradise Lost " 
 is printed as Milton wrote it, which is now the 
 general desire of those who may expect to have their 
 opinion respected : Pd is the best spelling, because 
 the e is not pronounced (it must give led or eld), 
 the / being a semi-vowel in this position. It struck 
 me that Milton's use of the short spelling might 
 have been due partly to the very consideration which 
 led me to adopt it, that is, that he may have wished to 
 lighten the appearance of his lines, in which preterites 
 are frequent from the like cause as they are in mine : 
 and when I discovered reason for spelling the same 
 words differently (as kissed and kist), I thought that I 
 might have hit on the key to his inconsistencies, but 
 this did not prove to be so. 
 
 I have also omitted the / from the word could. 
 Everyone will agree that it is a useless intruder, but it 
 may not be so well known that the word was always 
 properly spelt until some way on in the sixteenth 
 century, and that Dryden wrote coitd, and that this 
 protest lasted on nearly to this century ; as may be seen 
 under the word can in Dr. Murray's new dictionary. 
 Our newspapers show a really romantic reverence for 
 
1 7 o EROS & PSYCHE 
 
 the present orthography, but it has, I believe, no 
 authority but that of ignorant or fortuitous convention, 
 and it might better be called typodasmonography. 
 Owing to its tyranny the use of any unconventionality 
 in spelling has of late years been too great a disadvan- 
 tage to authors for them to venture it, for it would have 
 distracted the reader's attention and provoked ridicule ; 
 but now that old books are so much reprinted in 
 their original form, this only real objeftion is being 
 4one away with, and I, for one, hope that authors 
 will gradually dare to spell as they like, and assist 
 towards a real orthography of our tongue. 
 
Works by Robert Bridges 
 
 SHORTER POEMS. Fourth Edition, with the addition of 
 Book V. for the first time included. Printed on handmade paper. Fcap. 
 8vo. $s. net. 
 
 EDEN: an Oratorio. Composed by C. Villiers Stanford. 
 Words only by R. Bridges. Fcap. 8vo, paper wrapper, it. net. 
 
 tACHILLES IN SCTROS. A drama, in a mixed manner. 
 Uniform with " Shorter Poems." Fcap. 8vo. is. 6d. net. 
 
 A SERIES OF PLATS. Fcap. 4to, printed on handmade 
 paper, double columns, paper wrappers, each is. 6d. net (except No. 8). 
 The 8 Plays are paged consecutively, and are intended to form a Volume. 
 
 I. NERO. The First Part. History of the first five years of Nero's 
 reign : with the murder of Britannicus to the death of Agrippina. 
 
 [Out of print at present. 
 
 z. PALICK). A romantic drama in five airs, in the Elizabethan 
 manner. 
 
 3. THE RETURN OF ULTSSES. A drama in five afts, in a mixed 
 
 manner. 
 
 4. THE CHRISTIAN CAPTIVES. A tragedy in five ads, in a mixed 
 
 manner, without change of scene. 
 
 5. ACHILLES IN SCTROS. A drama in five a£ts, in a mixed manner, 
 
 without change of scene. 
 
 6. THE HUMOURS OF THE COURT. A comedy in three afts, in 
 
 the Spanish manner. 
 
 7. THE FEAST OF BACCHUS. A comedy in five a&s, in the Latin 
 
 manner, without change of scene. 
 
 8. NERO. The Second Part. In five aits: comprising the conspiracy 
 
 of Pisoto the death of Seneca, in the Elizabethan manner, is. net, 
 with general title-page, &c, for the volume. 
 
 LONDON: GEORGE BELL AND SONS 
 
CHISWICK PRESS t— CHARLES WHITTINGHAM AND CO. 
 TOOKS COURT, CHANCERY LANE, LONDON. 
 
 X 
 
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