THE COMING OF DIAN

[Endymion speaks, to his Sister Peona.]

"This river does not see the naked sky, Till it begins to progress silverly Around the western border of the wood, Whence, from a certain spot, its winding flood Seems at the distance like a crescent moon;

And in that nook, the very pride of June, Had I been used to pass my weary eves; There rather for the sun unwilling leaves So dear a picture of his sovereign power, And I could witness his most kingly hour, When he doth lighten up the golden reins,

And paces leisurely down amber plains His snorting four. Now when his chariot last

Its beams against the zodiac-lion cast,
There blossom'd suddenly a magic bed
Of sacred ditamy, and poppies red:
At which I wondered greatly, knowing
well

What it might mean. Perhaps, thought I, Morpheus,

In passing here, his owlet pinions shook: Or, it may be, ere matron Night uptook Her ebon urn, young Mercury, by stealth, Had dipt his rod in it: such garland wealth

That but one night had wrought this flowery spell;

And, sitting down close by, began to

muse

Came not by common growth. Thus on I thought,

Until my head was dizzy and distraught. Moreover, through the dancing poppies stole

A breeze, most softly lulling to my soul; And shaping visions all about my sight Of colors, wings, and bursts of spangly light;

The which became more strange, and strange, and dim, And then were gulf'd in a tumultuous swim:

And then I fell asleep. Ah, can I tell The enchantment that afterwards befell? Yet it was but a dream: yet such a dream That never tongue, although it overte m With mellow utterance, like a cavern spring,

Could figure out and to conception bring All I beheld and felt. Methought I lay Watching the zenith, where the milky

way

Among the stars in virgin splendor pours;

And travelling my eye, until the doors Of heaven appeared to open for my flight, I became loth and fearful to alight From such high soaring by a downward glance:

So kept me stedfast in that airy trance, Spreading imaginary pinions wide. When, presently, the stars began to glide, And faint away, before my eager view: At which I sigh'd that I could not pursue, And dropped my vision to the horizon's [emerge And lo! from opening clouds, I saw The loveliest moon, that ever silver'd o'er A shell for Neptune's goblet: she did

verge;

soar

So passionately bright, my dazzled soul Commingling with her argent spheres did roll

Through clear and cloudy, even when she went

At last into a dark and vapory tentWhereat, methought, the lidless-eyed train

Of planets all were in the blue again.
To commune with those orbs, once more
I rais'd

rose

From out her cradle shell. The wind out-blows

Her scarf into a fluttering pavilion; 'Tis blue, and over-spangled with a million

Of little eyes, as though thou wert to shed,

Over the darkest, lushest blue-bell bed, Handfuls of daisies.”—“ Endymion, how strange!

Dream within dream!"-" She took an airy range,

And then, towards me, like a very maid, Came blushing, waning, willing, and afraid, And press'd me by the hand: Ah! 'twas too much;

I was distracted; madly did I kiss The wooing arms which held me, and did give

My eyes at once to death: but 'twas to live,

To take in draughts of life from the gold fount

Of kind and passionate looks; to count, and count

The moments, by some greedy help that seem'd • [deem'd A second self, that each might be reAnd plunder'd of its load of blessedness. Ah, desperate mortal! I ev'n dar'd to

press

Her very cheek against my crowned lip, And, at that moment, felt my body dip Into a warmer air: a moment more, Our feet were soft in flowers. There was store

Of newest joys upon that alp. Sometimes

A scent of violets, and blossoming limes, Loiter'd around us; then of honey cells, Made delicate from all white-flower bells;

And once, above the edges of our nest, An arch face peep'd,-an Oread as I guess'd.

"Why did I dream that sleep o'er power'd me