Then Paris did a point of hunting blow, Nor yet the sound had died upon the hill When round the isle they spied a scarlet prow, And oars that flash'd into that haven still, The oarsmen bending forward with a will, And swift their black ship to the haven-side They brought, and steer'd her in with goodly skill, And bare on board the strange Achaean bride.
XIX.
Now while the swift ship through the waters clave, All happy things that in the waters dwell, Arose and gamboll'd on the glassy wave, And Nereus led them with his sounding shell:
Yea, the sea-nymphs, their dances weaving well, In the green water gave them greeting free.
Ah, long light linger'd, late the darkness fell, That night, upon the isle of Cranae!
XX.
And Hymen shook his fragrant torch on high, Till all its waves of smoke and tongues of flame, Like clouds of rosy gold fulfill'd the sky;And all the Nereids from the waters came, Each maiden with a musical sweet name;Doris, and Doto, and Amphithoe;And their shrill bridal song of love and shame Made music in the silence of the sea.
XXI.
For this was like that night of summer weather, When mortal men and maidens without fear, And forest-nymphs, and forest-gods together, Do worship Pan in the long twilight clear.
And Artemis this one night spares the deer, And every cave and dell, and every grove Is glad with singing soft and happy cheer, With laughter, and with dalliance, and with love.
* * * * *
XXII.
Now when the golden-throned Dawn arose To waken gods and mortals out of sleep, Queen Aphrodite sent the wind that blows From fairy gardens of the Western deep.
The sails are spread, the oars of Paris leap Past many a headland, many a haunted fane:
And, merrily all from isle to isle they sweep O'er the wet ways across the barren plain.
XXIII.
By many an island fort, and many a haven They sped, and many a crowded arsenal:
They saw the loves of Gods and men engraven On friezes of Astarte's temple wall.
They heard that ancient shepherd Proteus call His flock from forth the green and tumbling lea, And saw white Thetis with her maidens all Sweep up to high Olympus from the sea.
XXIV.
They saw the vain and weary toil of men, The ships that win the rich man all he craves;They pass'd the red-prow'd barks Egyptian, And heard afar the moaning of the slaves Pent in the dark hot hold beneath the waves;And scatheless the Sardanian fleets among They sail'd; by men that sow the sea with graves, Bearing black fate to folk of alien tongue.
XXV.
Then all day long a rolling cloud of smoke Would hang on the sea-limits, faint and far, But through the night the beacon-flame upbroke From some rich island-town begirt with war;And all these things could neither make nor mar The joy of lovers wandering, but they Sped happily, and heedless of the star That hung o'er their glad haven, far away.
XXVI.
The fisher-sentinel upon the height Watch'd them with vacant eyes, and little knew They bore the fate of Troy; to him the bright Plashed waters, with the silver shining through When tunny shoals came cruising in the blue, Was more than Love that doth the world unmake;And listless gazed he as the gulls that flew And shriek'd and chatter'd in the vessel's wake.
XXVII.
So the wind drave them, and the waters bare Across the great green plain unharvested, Till through an after-glow they knew the fair Faint rose of snow on distant Ida's head.
And swifter then the joyous oarsmen sped;But night was ended, and the waves were fire Beneath the fleet feet of a dawning red Or ere they won the land of their desire.
XXVIII.
