ORION.
Canto the First.
Ye rocky heights of Chios, where the snow,
Lit by the far-off and receding moon,
Now feels the soft dawn's purpling twilight creep
Over your ridges, while the singing dews,
Like creatures on a mission from the spheres,
Swarm down, and wait to be instinct with gold
And solar fire!—ye mountains waving brown
With thick-winged woods, and blotted with deep caves
In secret places; and ye paths that stray
E'en as ye list; what odours and what sighs
Tend your sweet silence through the star-showered night,
Like memories breathing of the Goddess forms
That left your haunts, yet with the day return!
Lit by the far-off and receding moon,
Now feels the soft dawn's purpling twilight creep
Over your ridges, while the singing dews,
Like creatures on a mission from the spheres,
Swarm down, and wait to be instinct with gold
And solar fire!—ye mountains waving brown
With thick-winged woods, and blotted with deep caves
In secret places; and ye paths that stray
E'en as ye list; what odours and what sighs
Tend your sweet silence through the star-showered night,
Like memories breathing of the Goddess forms
That left your haunts, yet with the day return!
