Page:An English Garner Ingatherings from Our History and Literature (Volume 1 1877).pdf/168

Until at last they saw where as there stood
An ancient temple wasted and forlorn,
Whose holy fires and sundry offerings good
The late outrageous waves away had borne;
But when at length down fallen was the flood,
The waters low, it proudly 'gan to scorn:
  Unto that place they thought it best to go,
  The counsel of the goddess there to know.

For long before that fearful deluge great,
The universal earth had overflown;
A heavenly power there placèd had her seat,
And answers gave of hidden things unknown.
Thither they went her favour to entreat
Whose fame throughout that coast abroad was blown;
  By her advice some way or mean to find,
  How to renew the race of human kind.

Prostrate they fell upon the sacred ground,
Kissing the stones and shedding many a tear;
And lowly bent their agèd bodies down
Unto the earth, with sad and heavy cheer;
Praying the saint with soft and doleful sound,
That she vouchsafe their humble suit to hear.
  The goddess heard: and bade them go and take
  Their mother's bones, and throw behind their back.

This oracle obscure and dark of sense,
Amazèd much their minds with fear and doubt,
What kind of meaning might be drawn from thence;
And how to understand and find it out.
How with so great a sin they might dispense
Their parent's bones to cast and throw about?
  Thus when they had long time in study spent
  Out of the church with careful thought they went.