Page:Prometheus bound - Browning (1833).djvu/71

Io. I know not why I should distrust you, nymphs;
And all ye fain would learn, will I unfold
In clearest speech: albeit, ev'n in speech,
Touching the Jove-impelled tempesting,
And the corruption of my human form,
The cause which wing'd them to me, thrills my soul:
For dreams nocturnal ever 'habiting
Within my virgin chamber, me beguiled
With honey'd words:—'Oh, blessed, blessed maid,
Wherefore so long unwedded, when 'tis thine
To meet with noblest spousals? since for thee
Jove is consumed by an arrowy love,
And yearns to win thee; maiden, spurn not thou
The vows of Jove; but hence to Lerne's plain,
Enrich'd with hocks and ox-stalls of thy sire,
That so Saturnius' eye may quench its love.'
Unhappy me! each night I was constrain'd
By visions thus, until I dared narrate
Unto my father the night-haunting dream.