The Poetical Works Of Robert Bridges Part 32

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'And when thy road the Stygian river joins, Where woolly Charon ferries o'er the dead, He will demand his fare: one of thy coins Force with thy tongue between thy teeth, thy head Offering instead of hand to give the doit.

His fingers in this custom are adroit, And thine must not set down the barleybread.

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'Then in his crazy bark as, ferrying o'er The stream, thou sittest, one that seems to float Rather than swim, midway 'twixt sh.o.r.e and sh.o.r.e, Will stretch his fleshless hand upon the boat, And beg thee of thy pity take him in.

Shut thy soft ear unto his clamour thin, Nor for a phantom deed thyself devote.

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'Next, on the further bank when thou art stept, Three wizen'd women weaving at the woof Will stop, and pray thee in their art adept To free their tangl'd threads. Hold thou aloof; For this and other traps thy foe hath plan'd To make thee drop the cakes out of thy hand, Putting thy prudence to perpetual proof.

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'For by one cake thou comest into h.e.l.l, And by one cake departest; since the hound That guards the gate is ever pleased well To taste man's meal, or sweeten'd grain unground.

Cast him a cake; for that thou may'st go free Even to the mansion of Persephone, Withouten stay or peril, safe and sound.

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'She will receive thee kindly; thou decline Her courtesies, and make the floor thy seat; Refusing what is offer'd, food or wine; Save only beg a crust of bread to eat.

Then tell thy mission, and her present take; Which when thou hast, set forth with pyx and cake, One in each hand, while yet thou may'st retreat.

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'Giving thy second cake to Cerberus, The coin to Charon, and that way whereby Thou camest following, thou comest thus To see again the starry choir on high.

But guard thou well the pyx, nor once uplift The lid to look on Persepha.s.sa's gift; Else 'tis in vain I bid thee now not die.'

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Then Psyche thank'd the tower, and stoopt her mouth To kiss the stones upon his rampart h.o.a.ry; And coming down his stair went hasting south, Along the steep Taenarian promontory; And found the cave and temple by the cape, And took the cakes and coins, and made escape Beneath the earth, according to his story.

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And overtook the a.s.s, but lent no aid; And offer'd Charon with her teeth his fee; And pa.s.s'd the floating ghost, in vain who pray'd; And turned her back upon the weavers three; And threw the honey-cake to that h.e.l.l-hound Three-headed Cerberus; and safe and sound, Came to the mansion of Persephone.

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Kindly received, she courtesy declined: Sat on the ground; ate not, save where she lay, A crust of bread; reveal'd the G.o.ddess' mind; The gift took; and return'd upon her way: Gave Cerberus his cake, Charon his fare, And saw through h.e.l.l's mouth to the purple air And one by one the keen stars melt in day.

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Awhile from so long journeying in the shades Resting at Taenarus she came to know How, up the eastern coast some forty stades, There stood a temple of her G.o.ddess foe.

There would she make her offering, there reclaim The prize, which now 'twas happiness to name, The joy that should redeem all pa.s.sed woe.

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And wending by the sunny sh.o.r.e at noon, She with her pyx, and wondering what it hid, Of what kind, what the fas.h.i.+on of the boon Coud be, that she to look on was forbid,-- Alas for Innocence so hard to teach!-- At fancy's p.r.i.c.k she sat her on the beach, And to content desire lifted the lid.

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She saw within nothing: But o'er her sight That looked on nothing gan a darkness creep.

A cloudy poison, mix'd of Stygian night, Rapt her to deadly and infernal sleep.

Backward she fell, like one when all is o'er, And lay outstretch'd, as lies upon the sh.o.r.e A drown'd corpse cast up by the murmuring deep.

FEBRUARY

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While Eros in his chamber hid his tears, Mourning the loss of Psyche and her fate, The rumour of her safety reacht his ears And how she came to Aphrodite's gate: Whereat with hope return'd his hardihood, And secretly he purposed while he coud Himself to save her from the G.o.ddess' hate.

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Then learning what he might and guessing more, His ready wit came soon to understand The journey to the far Laconian sh.o.r.e; Whither to fly and seek his love he plan'd: And making good escape in dark of night, Ere the sun crost his true meridian flight He by Teuthrone struck the southern strand.

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There as it chanct he found that snowy bird Of Crete, that late made mischief with his queen, And now along the cliffs with wings unstir'd Sail'd, and that morn had cross'd the sea between: Whom as he past he hail'd, and question'd thus, 'O snowy gull, if thou from Taenarus Be come, say, hast thou there my Psyche seen?'

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The gull replied 'Thy Psyche have I seen; Walking beside the sea she joy'th to bear A pyx of dark obsidian's rarest green, Wherein she gazeth on her features fair.

She is not hence by now six miles at most.'

Then Eros bade him speed, and down the coast Held on his pa.s.sage through the buoyant air.

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With eager eye he search'd the salty marge, Boding all mischief from his mother's glee; And wondering of her wiles, and what the charge Shut in the dark obsidian pyx might be.

And lo! at last, outstretch'd beside the rocks, Psyche as lifeless; and the open box Laid with the weedy refuse of the sea.

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