60
Orion.
[Book II.
Their arms cast wide with open palms; their chests
Heaving like some large engine. Near them lay
Their bloody clubs with dust and hair begrimed,
Their spears and girdles, and the long-noosed thongs.
Artemis vanished; all again was dark.
Heaving like some large engine. Near them lay
Their bloody clubs with dust and hair begrimed,
Their spears and girdles, and the long-noosed thongs.
Artemis vanished; all again was dark.
With day's first streak Orion rose, and loudly
To his companions called. But still they slept.
Again he shouted; yet no limb they stirred,
Though scarcely seven strides distant. He approached,
And found the spot, so sweet with clover flower
When they had cast them down, was now arrayed
With many-headed poppies, like a crowd
Of dusky Ethiops in a magic cirque,
Which had sprung up beneath them in the night,
And all entranced the air. Orion paced
Around their listless bodies thoughtfully.
"Three giants slain outright by Phoibos' beams,—
Now hath a dead sleep fallen on my friends.
'T was wise in Akinetos not to move."
An earthquake would not wake them. Artemis
Rejoices, and the hopes of Merope,
To whom the news a breathless shepherd bore,
Throbbed fearfully suspended o'er the brink
To his companions called. But still they slept.
Again he shouted; yet no limb they stirred,
Though scarcely seven strides distant. He approached,
And found the spot, so sweet with clover flower
When they had cast them down, was now arrayed
With many-headed poppies, like a crowd
Of dusky Ethiops in a magic cirque,
Which had sprung up beneath them in the night,
And all entranced the air. Orion paced
Around their listless bodies thoughtfully.
"Three giants slain outright by Phoibos' beams,—
Now hath a dead sleep fallen on my friends.
'T was wise in Akinetos not to move."
An earthquake would not wake them. Artemis
Rejoices, and the hopes of Merope,
To whom the news a breathless shepherd bore,
Throbbed fearfully suspended o'er the brink
