GREEK SONGS.

I.

THE STORM OF DELPHI*.

FAR through the Delphian shades

An Eastern trumpet rung!

And the startled eagle rush'd on high,

With a sounding flight through the fiery sky,

And banners, o'er the shadowy glades,

To the sweeping winds were flung.

Banners, with deep-red gold

All waving, as a flame,

And a fitful glance from the bright spear-head On the dim wood-paths of the mountain shed, And a peal of Asia's war-notes told

That in arms the Persian came.

* See the account cited from Herodotus, in Mitford's Greece.

He came, with starry gems

On his quiver and his crest;

With starry gems, at whose heart the day
Of the cloudless orient burning lay,

And they cast a gleam on the laurel-stems,
As onward his thousands press'd.

But a gloom fell o'er their way,

And a heavy moan went by!

A moan, yet not like the wind's low swell,

When its voice grows wild amidst cave and dell, But a mortal murmur of dismay,

Or a warrior's dying sigh!

A gloom fell o'er their way!

"Twas not the shadow cast

By the dark pine-boughs, as they cross'd the blue Of the Grecian heavens with their solemn hue; -The air was fill'd with a mightier sway,

-But on the spearmen pass'd!

And hollow, to their tread,

Came the echoes of the ground,

And banners droop'd, as with dews o'erborne,
And the wailing blast of the battle-horn

Had an alter'd cadence, dull and dead,
Of strange foreboding sound.

-But they blew a louder strain,
When the steep defiles were pass'd!

And afar the crown'd Parnassus rose,

To shine thro' heaven with his radiant snows, And in golden light the Delphian fane

Before them stood at last!

In golden light it stood,

Midst the laurels gleaming lone,
For the Sun-God yet, with a lovely smile,
O'er its graceful pillars look'd awhile,
Tho' the stormy shade on cliff and wood

Grew deep, round its mountain-throne.

And the Persians gave a shout!
But the marble-walls replied,

With a clash of steel, and a sullen roar
Like heavy wheels on the ocean-shore,"

And a savage trumpet's note peal'd out,

Till their hearts for terror died!

On the armour of the God,

Then a viewless hand was laid;

There were helm and spear, with a clanging din,
And corslet brought from the shrine within,

From the inmost shrine of the dread abode,
And before its front array'd.

And a sudden silence fell

Thro' the dim and loaded air!

On the wild bird's wing, and the myrtle-spray, And the very founts, in their silvery way,

With a weight of sleep came down the spell,

But the pause was broken soon!

"Twas not by song or lyre;

For the Delphian maids had left their bowers, And the hearths were lone in the city's towers, But there burst a sound thro' the misty noon,

That battle-noon of fire!

It burst from earth and heaven!
It roll'd from crag and cloud!
For a moment of the mountain-blast,
With a thousand stormy voices pass'd,

And the purple gloom of the sky was riven,
When the thunder peal'd aloud.

And the lightnings in their play Flash'd forth, like javelins thrown; Like sun-darts wing'd from the silver bow, They smote the spear and the turban'd brow, And the bright gems flew from the crests like spray, And the banners were struck down!

And the massy oak-boughs crash'd

To the fire-bolts from on high, And the forest lent its billowy roar,

While the glorious tempest onward bore,

And lit the streams, as they foam'd and dash'd,
With the fierce rain sweeping by.

Then rush'd the Delphian men

On the pale and scatter'd host;