Page:The poetical works of Matthew Arnold, 1897.djvu/231

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THE STRAYED REVELLER.
193

This long time rumors
The favored guest of Circe, brought by the waves?
Art thou he, stranger,—
The wise Ulysses,
Laertes' son?


ULYSSES.

I am Ulysses.
And thou too, sleeper?
Thy voice is sweet.
It may be thou hast followed
Through the islands some divine bard,
By age taught many things,—
Age, and the Muses;
And heard him delighting
The chiefs and people
In the banquet, and learned his songs,
Of gods and heroes,
Of war and arts,
And peopled cities,
Inland, or built
By the gray sea. If so, then hail!
I honor and welcome thee.


THE YOUTH.

The gods are happy.
They turn on all sides
Their shining eyes,
And see below them
The earth and men.


They see Tiresias
Sitting, staff in hand,
On the warm, grassy

Asopus bank,