APHRODITE ENOIKIA
Out of the russet sea, over the crackling sands,
Scarved with a shimmering veiling of foam, the sea-sired goddess stands.
Lo, at her back the waves gnash with their whitened teeth,
And all is a desolate anguish above, a deep drowned grief beneath.
But here where her footfall pauses, and here where her blue eyes stay,
The soil is awake with a blossoming madness, a rapture of flowery spray:
Poppy, hydrangea and odorous violet, and the red flame of the rose,
Carpet the glad and fortunate path where her sweet self goes.
So came love to the land, out of the earliest sea;
So came love to the land—as love has come to me.
Scarved with a shimmering veiling of foam, the sea-sired goddess stands.
Lo, at her back the waves gnash with their whitened teeth,
And all is a desolate anguish above, a deep drowned grief beneath.
But here where her footfall pauses, and here where her blue eyes stay,
The soil is awake with a blossoming madness, a rapture of flowery spray:
Poppy, hydrangea and odorous violet, and the red flame of the rose,
Carpet the glad and fortunate path where her sweet self goes.
So came love to the land, out of the earliest sea;
So came love to the land—as love has come to me.
II.
How did he chance to mark your coming so,
That earliest singing soul of long ago?
Sick of way-worn search for a tarnished fleece,
How did he chance to mark your coming so,
That earliest singing soul of long ago?
Sick of way-worn search for a tarnished fleece,
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