| |
| THERE where the sea enwrapt | |
| A strip of land and wind-swept dune, | |
| Where nature was quiescent in the glimmering | |
| Noonday sun of early June,— | |
| The Placid sea lay shimmering | 5 |
| In a mist of blue, | |
| From which the sky now drew | |
| Its wealth of hue and colour; | |
| One heard but the deep breathing of the ocean, | |
| As it breathed along the shore in even motion. | 10 |
| Among the pines and listless of the scene, | |
| Atthis and Alcæus lay, | |
| Within the heart of each a hunger | |
| For the unknown gift of life. | |
| Here from day to day | 15 |
| They met and dreamed away | |
| The soft unfolding days of spring,— | |
| Now turning to the summer. | |
| |
Alcæus:
I am faint with all the fire | |
| In my blood, | 20 |
| And I would plunge into the quiet blue | |
| And lose all sense of time and you. | |
| |
Atthis:
I, too, would plunge | |
| And swim with you! | |
| |
| Doffing her robe, the maid stood in her beauty, | 25 |
| Calm and sure and unafraid, | |
| The sinuous splendour of her limbs, | |
| A silent symphony of curving line, | |
| Which reached its final note | |
| In breast and rounded throat. | 30 |
| He had not known that flesh could be so fair; | |
| Each movement which she made | |
| Wove o’er his sense a deeper spell, | |
| Her beauty swept him like a flame | |
| And caught him unaware. | 35 |
| She looked into his eyes, then dropping hers | |
| Before that burning gaze, | |
| Softly turned and crept with sunlit shoulders | |
| Down among the boulders, | |
| To the sea. | 40 |
| Secure within its covering depth | |
| She called to him to follow. | |
| She led him out along the tide, | |
| With swift unerring stroke, | |
| Nor paused till he was at her side. | 45 |
| With conquering arm | |
| He seized her and from her brow | |
| Tossed back the dripping locks, and sought her lips— | |
| Her eyes closed,— | |
| As all her body yielded to his kiss. | 50 |
| Then home he bore her to the shore, | |
| Within his heart a song of triumph; | |
| In hers, a new-born joy of womanhood. | |
| So spring for them passed on to summer. | |
| |
