Page:A New Zealand verse (1906).pdf/241
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Nausicaa.
205
Must burn with gladness for the love of thee
When they behold thee, flower of maidenhood,
Leading the dance. Beyond all others blest
Is he who woos and wins thee for his home.
For never yet mine eyes have seen thy peer,
Or man or maid; it awes me to look on thee.
In Delos once I saw a thing as fair—
A palm-shoot springing by Apollo’s altar.
(For thither went I, and much people with me ;
Sore woe in time to come that journey wrought me.)
When I long time had gazed thereon, I marvelled,
For never yet from earth rose stem so fair.
So lady do I marvel at thee, and much dread
To touch thy knees, though grief weighs sorely on me.
But yesterday, the twentieth day, I ’scaped
The darkling sea; till then the wave still bore me,
And fierce blasts drove me from Ogygia’s isle.
And here some God hath cast me, that perchance
Still further evil I may yet endure;
For trow I that not yet my woes will cease,
But many more the Gods have still in store.
Then, queen, have mercy on me; unto thee
First, after many sufferings, have I come;
None other do I know of those who hold
This city and this land. Show me the town,
And if some wrap thou didst bring for thy linen,
Give it me for a garment to cast round me:
So may the Gods grant thee thy heart’s desire—
A husband and a home—a mind be thine
At one with his, for nought can better be
Or nobler than when wife and husband keep
Their household with one single heart and mind.”
These were the words the kneeling outcast spake.
But though his limbs were all befouled with slime,
And his thick locks were clotted o’er with brine,
His native nobleness shone out through all.
When they behold thee, flower of maidenhood,
Leading the dance. Beyond all others blest
Is he who woos and wins thee for his home.
For never yet mine eyes have seen thy peer,
Or man or maid; it awes me to look on thee.
In Delos once I saw a thing as fair—
A palm-shoot springing by Apollo’s altar.
(For thither went I, and much people with me ;
Sore woe in time to come that journey wrought me.)
When I long time had gazed thereon, I marvelled,
For never yet from earth rose stem so fair.
So lady do I marvel at thee, and much dread
To touch thy knees, though grief weighs sorely on me.
But yesterday, the twentieth day, I ’scaped
The darkling sea; till then the wave still bore me,
And fierce blasts drove me from Ogygia’s isle.
And here some God hath cast me, that perchance
Still further evil I may yet endure;
For trow I that not yet my woes will cease,
But many more the Gods have still in store.
Then, queen, have mercy on me; unto thee
First, after many sufferings, have I come;
None other do I know of those who hold
This city and this land. Show me the town,
And if some wrap thou didst bring for thy linen,
Give it me for a garment to cast round me:
So may the Gods grant thee thy heart’s desire—
A husband and a home—a mind be thine
At one with his, for nought can better be
Or nobler than when wife and husband keep
Their household with one single heart and mind.”
These were the words the kneeling outcast spake.
But though his limbs were all befouled with slime,
And his thick locks were clotted o’er with brine,
His native nobleness shone out through all.