Page:The ascent of man by Blind, Mathilde.djvu/62

Ah, who will harbour her? Ah, who will save
The fugitive from pangs that rack and tear;
Who, finding rest nor refuge anywhere,
Seems doomed to be her unborn offspring's grave;
The seed of Jove, murdered before their birth—
Did not the sea, more merciful than earth,
Bid Delos stand—that wandering isle of Ocean—
Stand motionless upon the moving foam,
To be the exile's wave-encircled home,
And lull her pains with leaves in drowsy motion,
Where the soft-boughed olive sighing
Bends above the woman lying
And in spasms of anguish crying,
Shuddering through her mortal frame.
As from dust is struck the flame
Which shall henceforth beam sublime
Through the firmament of Time?

Oh, balmy Island bedded on the brine,
Harbour of refuge on the tumbling seas,