Page:Summer on the lakes, in 1843.djvu/64

From Wikisource
Jump to navigation Jump to search
This page has been proofread, but needs to be validated.
54
SUMMER ON THE LAKES.

two or three days, disputed the ground with the lupine and phlox. My companions disliked, I liked it.

Here I thought of, or rather saw, what the Greek expresses under the form of Jove's darling, Ganymede, and the following stanzas took form.

GANYMEDE TO HIS EAGLE,

SUGGESTED BY A WORK OF THORWALDSEN'S.

Composed on the height called the Eagle's Nest, Oregon, Rock River,
July 4th, 1843.

Upon the rocky mountain stood the boy,
 A goblet of pure water in his hand,
His face and form spoke him one made for joy,
 A willing servant to sweet love's command,
But a strange pain was written on his brow,
And thrilled throughout his silver accents now —
 
“My bird,” he cries, “my destined brother friend,
 O whither fleets to-day thy wayward flight?
Hast thou forgotten that I here attend,
 From the full noon until this sad twilight?
A hundred times, at least, from the clear spring,
 Since the full noon o'er hill and valley glowed,
I've filled the vase which our Olympian king
 Upon my care for thy sole use bestowed;
That at the moment when thou should'st descend,
A pure refreshment might thy thirst attend.
 
Hast thou forgotten earth, forgotten me,
 Thy fellow bondsman in a royal cause,
Who, from the sadness of infinity,
 Only with thee can know that peaceful pause
In which we catch the flowing strain of love,
Which binds our dim fates to the throne of Jove?