76
GREEK SONGS.
He came, with starry gems
On his quiver and his crest;
With starry gems, at whose heart the day
Of the cloudless orient burning lay,
And they cast a gleam on the laurel-stems,
As onward his thousands press'd.
But a gloom fell o'er their way,
And a heavy moan went by!
A moan, yet not like the wind's low swell,
When its voice grows wild amidst cave and dell,
But a mortal murmur of dismay,
Or a warrior's dying sigh!
A gloom fell o'er their way!
'Twas not the shadow cast
By the dark pine-boughs, as they cross'd the blue
Of the Grecian heavens with their solemn hue;
—The air was fill'd with a mightier sway,
—But on the spearmen pass'd!
And hollow, to their tread,
Came the echoes of the ground,
