Thursday, January 30, 2014
The Seas Have Lost Their Nereids
Paul Hamilton Hayne (1830-1886), "Ancient Myths," Poems (Boston: D. Lothrop and Company, 1882), p. 28:
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Ye pleasant myths of Eld, why have ye fled?6 list: hear
The earth has fallen from her blissful prime
Of summer years, the dews of that sweet time,
Are withered on its garlands sere and dead.
No longer in the blue fields overhead 5
We list the rustling of immortal wings,
Or hail at eve the kindly visitings
Of gentle Genii to fair fortunes wed:
The seas have lost their Nereids, the sad streams
Their gold-haired habitants, the mountains lone 10
Those happy Oreads, and the blithesome tone
Of Pan's soft pipe melts only in our dreams;
Fitfully fall the old faith's broken gleams
On our dull hearts, cold its sepulchral stone.
