The coming of Aphrodite, and how she told Helen that she must depart in company with Paris, but promised withal that Helen, having fallen into a deep sleep, should awake forgetful of her old life, and ignorant of her shame, and blameless of those evil deeds that the Goddess thrust upon her.
I.
Now in the upper chamber o'er the gate Lay Menelaus on his carven bed, And swift and sudden as the stroke of Fate A deep sleep fell upon his weary head.
But the soft-winged God with wand of lead Came not near Helen; wistful did she lie, Till dark should change to grey, and grey to red, And golden throned Morn sweep o'er the sky.
II.
Slow pass'd the heavy night: like one who fears The step of murder, she lies quivering, If any cry of the night bird she hears;And strains her eyes to mark some dreadful thing, If but the curtains of the window swing, Stirr'd by the breath of night, and still she wept As she were not the daughter of a king, And no strong king, her lord, beside her slept.
III.
Now in that hour, the folk who watch the night, Shepherds and fishermen, and they that ply Strange arts and seek their spells in the star-light, Beheld a marvel in the sea and sky, For all the waves of all the seas that sigh Between the straits of Helle and the Nile, Flush'd with a flame of silver suddenly, From soft Cythera to the Cyprian isle.
IV.
And Hesperus, the kindest star of heaven, That bringeth all things good, wax'd pale, and straight There fell a flash of white malignant levin Among the gleaming waters desolate;The lights of sea and sky did mix and mate And change to rosy flame, and thence did fly The lovely Queen of Love that turns to hate, Like summer lightnings 'twixt the sea and sky.
V.
And now the bower of Helen fill'd with light, And now she knew the thing that she did fear Was close upon her (for the black of night Doth burn like fire, whene'er the Gods are near);Then shone like flame each helm and shield and spear That hung within the chamber of the King, But he,--though all the bower as day was clear, -Slept as they sleep that know no wakening.
VI.
But Helen leap'd from her fair carven bed As some tormented thing that fear makes bold, And on the ground she beat her golden head And pray'd with bitter moanings manifold.
Yet knew that she could never move the cold Heart of the lovely Goddess, standing there, Her feet upon a little cloud, a fold Of silver cloud about her bosom bare.
VII.
So stood Queen Aphrodite, as she stands Unmoved in her bright mansion, when in vain Some naked maiden stretches helpless hands And shifts the magic wheel, and burns the grain, And cannot win her lover back again, Nor her old heart of quiet any more, Where moonlight floods the dim Sicilian main, And the cool wavelets break along the shore.
VIII.
Then Helen ceased from unavailing prayer, And rose and faced the Goddess steadily, Till even the laughter-loving lady fair Half shrank before the anger of her eye, And Helen cried with an exceeding cry, "Why does Zeus live, if we indeed must be No more than sullen spoils of destiny, And slaves of an *****eress like thee?
IX.
"What wilt thou with me, mistress of all woe?
Say, wilt thou bear me to another land Where thou hast other lovers? Rise and go Where dark the pine trees upon Ida stand, For there did one unloose thy girdle band;Or seek the forest where Adonis bled, Or wander, wander on the yellow sand, Where thy first lover strew'd thy bridal bed.
X.
"Ah, thy first lover! who is first or last Of men and gods, unnumber'd and unnamed?
Lover by lover in the race is pass'd, Lover by lover, outcast and ashamed.
Oh, thou of many names, and evil famed!
What wilt thou with me? What must I endure Whose soul, for all thy craft, is never tamed?
Whose heart, for all thy wiles, is ever pure?
XI.
"Behold, my heart is purer than the plume Upon the stainless pinions of the swan, And thou wilt smirch and stain it with the fume Of all thy hateful lusts Idalian.
My name shall be a hissing that a man Shall smile to speak, and women curse and hate, And on my little child shall come a ban, And all my lofty home be desolate.
XII.
"Is it thy will that like a golden cup From lip to lip of heroes I must go, And be but as a banner lifted up, To beckon where the winds of war may blow?
Have I not seen fair Athens in her woe, And all her homes aflame from sea to sea, When my fierce brothers wrought her overthrow Because Athenian Theseus carried me -XIII.
"Me, in my bloomless youth, a maiden child, From Artemis' pure altars and her fane, And bare me, with Pirithous the wild To rich Aphidna? Many a man was slain, And wet with blood the fair Athenian plain, And fired was many a goodly temple then, But fire nor blood can purify the stain Nor make my name reproachless among men."XIV.
Then Helen ceased, her passion like a flame That slays the thing it lives by, blazed and fell, As faint as waves at dawn, though fierce they came, By night to storm some rocky citadel;For Aphrodite answer'd,--like a spell Her voice makes strength of mortals pass away, -"Dost thou not know that I have loved thee well, And never loved thee better than to-day?
XV.
"Behold, thine eyes are wet, thy cheeks are wan, Yet art thou born of an immortal sire, The child of Nemesis and of the Swan;Thy veins should run with ichor and with fire.
Yet this is thy delight and thy desire, To love a mortal lord, a mortal child, To live, unpraised of lute, unhymn'd of lyre, As any woman pure and undefiled.
XVI.
"Thou art the toy of Gods, an instrument Wherewith all mortals shall be plagued or blest, Even at my pleasure; yea, thou shalt be bent This way and that, howe'er it like me best:
And following thee, as tides the moon, the West Shall flood the Eastern coasts with waves of war, And thy vex'd soul shall scarcely be at rest, Even in the havens where the deathless are.
XVII.
"The instruments of men are blind and dumb, And this one gift I give thee, to be blind And heedless of the thing that is to come, And ignorant of that which is behind;Bearing an innocent forgetful mind In each new fortune till I visit thee And stir thy heart, as lightning and the wind Bear fire and tumult through a sleeping sea.
