and who shall
elude him by flight?
And who is the lord of the leap,
that can spring
and alight and evade?
For Ate deludes and allures,
till round him
the meshes are laid,
And no man his doom can escape!
it was writ in
the rule of high Heaven,
That in tramp of the steeds and in crash
of the charge
the war-cry of
Persia be given:
They have learned to behold the forbidden,
the sacred enclosure
of sea,
Where the waters are wide and in stress
of the wind the
billows roll hoary to lee!
And their trust is in cable and cordage,
too weak in the
power of the blast,
And frail are the links of the bridge
whereby unto Hellas
they passed.
Therefore my gloom-wrapped heart
is rent with sorrow
For what may hap to-morrow!
Alack, for all the Persian armament—
Alack, lest there be sent
Dread news of desolation, Susa’s
land
Bereft, forlorn, unmanned—
Lest the grey Kissian fortress echo back
The wail, Alack, Alack!
The sound of women’s shriek, who
wail and mourn,
With fine-spun raiment torn!
The charioteers went forth nor come again,
And all the marching men
Even as a swarm of bees have flown afar,
Drawn by the king to war—
Crossing the sea-bridge, linked from side
to side,
That doth the waves divide:
And the soft bridal couch of bygone years
Is now bedewed with tears,
Each princess, clad in garments delicate,
Wails for her widowed fate—
Alas my gallant bridegroom, lost and
gone,
And I am left alone!
But now, ye warders of the state,
Here, in this hall of old renown,
Behoves that we deliberate
In counsel deep and wise debate,
For need is surely shown!
How fareth he, Darius’ child,
The Persian king, from Perseus styled?
Comes triumph to the eastern bow,
Or hath the lance-point conquered now?
[Enter
ATOSSA.
See, yonder comes the mother-queen,
Light of our eyes, in godlike sheen,
The royal mother of the king!—
Fall we before her! well it were
That, all as one, we sue to her,
And round her footsteps cling!
Queen, among deep-girded Persian dames
thou highest and most royal,
Hoary mother, thou, of Xerxes, and Darius’
wife of old!
To godlike sire, and godlike son, we bow
us and are loyal—
Unless, on us, an adverse tide of destiny
has rolled!
Therefore come I forth to you, from chambers
decked and golden,
Where long ago Darius laid
his head, with me beside,
And my heart is torn with anguish, and
with terror am I holden,
And I plead unto your friendship
and I bid you to my side.
