At Delphi
I Apollo! Apollo! Apollo! II Where hast thou, Apollo, gone? I have wandered on and on, Through the shaggy Dorian gorges, Down from where Parnassus forges Thunder for the Phocian valleys; Where the Pleistus springs and sallies Past ravines and caverns dread, Have, like it, meanderëd; But I cannot see thee, hear thee, Find thee, feel thee, get anear thee. Though in quest of thee I go where Thou didst haunt, I find thee nowhere, Apollo! Apollo! Apollo! III Still no answer comes. . . . Apollo! Vainly do I call and holloa Into each Crissoean cleft Where the last year's leaves are left. Deem not I have pushed my way But from stony Amphissà. I have come from far-off land, Traversed foam, traversed sand, From green pastures sea-surrounded, Where thy phorminx never sounded; O'er the broad and barren acres Of the vainly furrowed breakers, Across mountains loftier far Than the peaks of Pindus are; Skirted groves of pine and fir Denser than lone Tempe's were, With no selfish tread, but only I might find thee, lovely, lonely, Lingering by thy sacred city: On me wilt thou not have pity? Sun-god! Song-god! I implore thee! Glow, and let me pale before thee, Apollo! Apollo! Apollo! IV Fallen tablet, prostrate column, Solitude and silence solemn! Half-tilled patches, squalid hovels, Where life multiplies and grovels- Is this Delphi, this the shrine Of the Musagete divine? This the cavern, this the cell, Of the Pythian oracle! Where the tripod, where the altar, Incense, embassy, and psalter? Can this pool of cresses be Cradle of pure Castaly? From the rock though still it bubbles, Travels onwards, halts, and doubles, Where the Muses wont to lave Limbs as vestal as its wave, 'Mong the flashing waters flashing,- Gaunt and withered crones are washing. Not a note of lyre or zittern, But, below, the booming bittern Waits his quarry to inveigle, While o'erhead the silent eagle, Blinking, stares at the blank sun- All of thee that is not gone, Apollo! Apollo! V Who art thou, intruder weird! With the fine and flowing beard? Whom no snowy robes encumber, But a habit black and sombre, Yet in whose composëd eyes Lurks the light of mysteries. Priest thou seemest, but not one Of the loved Latona's son. In thy aspect is no gladness, Glance nor gleam of joyous madness, Only gloom, only sadness. Underneath thy knotted girdle Thoughts congeal and passions curdle, And about thy brow ascetic Lives nor light nor line prophetic. Priest, but priest not of Apollo, Whither wouldst thou have me follow? Lead but onward, I will enter Where thy cold gaze seems to centre, Underneath yon portal dismal, Into dusk and chill abysmal. Hast thou pent him? Is He lying There within, dethroned and dying? If thou breathest, hear me crying, ``Apollo! Apollo! Apollo!'' VI No, but here He cannot be, God of light and poesy! What are these I see around, Gloomy upon gloomy ground, Making wall and roof to seem Sepulchre of morbid dream? Visages with aspect stony, Bodies lean, and lank, and bony, In whose lineaments I trace Neither love, nor joy, nor grace: Youth with limbs disused and old, Maidens pale, contorted, cold, Flames devouring, pincers wrenching Muscles naked but unblenching, Writhing snakes forked venom darting Into flesh-wounds, gaping, smarting, Furies shagged with tresses fell, Ghouls and ghosts of nether hell! Priest of beauty! Priest of song! Aid me, if thou still art strong! See me! save me! bear me whither Glows thy light that brought me hither, Apollo! Apollo! Apollo! VII O the sunshine once again! O to stand a man 'mong men! Lo! the horrid nightmare pales In the light of flowing vales, In the gaze of steadfast mountains, Sidelong runnels, forward fountains, Spacious sky, receding air, Breadth and bounty everywhere. What if all the gods be dead, Nature reigneth in their stead. Let me dream the noon away Underneath this full-blown bay, Where the yellow bees are busy, Till they stagger, drowsy, dizzy, From the honeyed wine that wells Up the branches to the cells Of the myriad-clustered flowers Dropping golden flakes in showers. Here reclined, I will surrender Sense and soul unto the tender Mingling of remote and close: Gods voluptuous, gods morose; Altars at whose marble meet Downcast eyes and dancing feet; Awful dirges, glad carouse, Unveiled bosoms, shaded brows, Wreathëd steer and tonsured skull, Shapes austere with beautiful; Till the past and present swim In an ether distant, dim, And the Delphic fumes rise denser From a silver-swinging censer, And in one harmonious dream, Through a heavenly nimbus, gleam Lovely limbs and longings saintly, And pale virgins murmur faintly, ``Apollo! Apollo! Apollo!'' VIII Priest, but priest not of Apollo, Why dost thou my footsteps follow From the deep dark shrine down there To this temple of the air? What, profaner! wouldst thou lay Hands upon the sacred bay, Tearing Daphne limb from limb! Hast thou, then, no dread of Him? How? For me? Avaunt, and pass! I am not fool Marsyas. Stay! Then to my forehead bind it, Round my temples wreathe and wind it; 'Chance the Avenger then will come, Haunt and grot no more be dumb, But the rills and steeps be ringing, And a long array come singing, ``Apollo! Apollo! Apollo!'' IX All in vain! Nor prayer nor taunt Tempts him back to his loved haunt. Fretted tablet, fallen column, Solitude and silence solemn! He again from Peneus ne'er Will to Castaly repair; Never more in cavern dread Will his oracles be read; Now I know that Thou art dead, Apollo! X Then like fountain in mine ear Spake the god aloud and clear: ``Take it! Wear it! Tis for thee, Singer from the Northern Sea. If the least, not last of those, Suckled 'mong the genial snows. Though the Muses may have left Tempe's glen and Delphi's cleft, Wanderer! they have only gone Hence to murmuring Albion. Need was none to travel hither: Child of England, go back thither. Traverse foam, traverse sand; Back, and in thy native land Thou wilt find what thou dost seek. There the oracles still speak; There the mounting fumes inspire Glowing brain and living lyre. There the Muses prompt the strain, There they renovate my reign; There thou wilt not call in vain, `Apollo! Apollo! Apollo!'''
Alfred Austin’s other poems:
