HERMES (putting on his sandals.)
Much must he toil who serves the Immortal Gods,
And I, who am their herald, most of all.
No rest have I, nor respite. I no sooner
Unclasp the wingéd sandals from my feet,
Than I again must clasp them, and depart
Upon some foolish errand. But to-day
The errand is not foolish. Never yet
With greater joy did I obey the summons
That sends me earthward. I will fly so swiftly
That my caduceus in the whistling air
Shall make a sound like the Pandaean pipes,
Cheating the shepherds; for to-day I go,
Commissioned by high-thundering Zeus, to lead
A maiden to Prometheus, in his tower,
And by my cunning arguments persuade him
To marry her. What mischief lies concealed
In this design I know not; but I know
Who thinks of marrying hath already taken
One step upon the road to penitence.
Such embassies delight me. Forth I launch
On the sustaining air, nor fear to fall
Like Icarus, nor swerve aside like him
Who drove amiss Hyperion's fiery steeds.
I sink, I fly! The yielding element
Folds itself round about me like an arm,
And holds me as a mother holds her child.
Masque of Pandora and Other Poems 1875
- The Masque of Pandora - I. The Workshop of Hephaestus
- The Masque of Pandora - II. Olympus
- The Masque of Pandora - III. Tower of Prometheus on Mount Caucasus
- The Masque of Pandora - IV. The Air
- The Masque of Pandora - V. The House of Epimetheus
- The Masque of Pandora - VI. In the Garden
- The Masque of Pandora - VII. The House of Epimetheus
- The Masque of Pandora - VIII. In the Garden
- The Hanging of the Crane
- Morituri Salutamus
- Three Friends of Mine
- Chaucer
- Shakespeare
- Milton
- Keats
- The Galaxy
- The Sound of the Sea
- A Summer Day by the Sea
- The Tides
- A Shadow
- A Nameless Grave
- Sleep
- The Old Bridge at Florence
- Il Ponte Vecchio di Firenze