Thou canst no longer know or love the shapes Be shed-not even in thought. Nor, when those hues 710 Worn by the senseless wind, shall live alone In the frail pauses of this simple strain, 720 Birth and the grave, that are not as they were. 727 TRANSLATIONS. HYMN TO MERCURY. TRANSLATED FROM THE GREEK OF HOMER I. SING, Muse, the son of Maia and of Jove, The Herald-child, king of Arcadia And all its pastoral hills, whom in sweet love Having been interwoven, modest May Bore Heaven's dread Supreme-an antique grove Shadowed the cavern where the lovers lay In the deep night, unseen by Gods or Men,And white-armed Juno slumbered sweetly then. II. Now, when the joy of Jove had its fulfiling, A shepherd of thin dreams, a cow-stealing, 296 III. The babe was born at the first peep of day; IV. Out of the lofty cavern wandering He found a tortoise, and cried out-" A treasure!" (For Mercury first made the tortoise sing) The beast before the portal at his leisure Eyeing him laughed, and laughing thus begun: V. "A useful god-send are you to me now, You will give joy to me, and I will do |