DIANA'S crescent ship, By silver chain and lock, Lay anchored in the slip Of Pluto's secret dock. Apollo, from his race First-fought across the skies, Drew rein with angry face In ancient paradise. Beside a sapphire stream That fed the steeds of Day, Enthralled in love-lit dream The faithless Hermes lay. "Awake! and take thy wings! (The sun-god plied his whip) And bid these underlings To launch Diana's ship. "Be sure thou do not fail, On thee, fool, worlds await, And this, her first night sail, Must not be launched a-late." Then Hermes, nursing wrath, In silence took his flight, And though down Pluto's path, Reached not the court of night, But met, full-gowned in sheaf, Proserpine, his love, And from the realms of Grief Escorted her above. And thus the crescent ship From its Lethean clime Left not the secret slip At its appointed time. When from the azure sea Diana's barque is missed, 'T is waiting in the lee While Hermes has his tryst. | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...POPULARITY by THOMAS BAILEY ALDRICH THE ARGONAUTS (ARGONATUICA): MEDEA BETRAYED by APOLLONIUS RHODIUS IF I AM SITTING CLOSE TO YOU by JESSIE DOWNS BELKNAP TO M. I. by MATILDA BARBARA BETHAM-EDWARDS THE WIFES' TRAGEDY by EDWARD ROBERT BULWER-LYTTON THE BOHEMIANS OF BOSTON AND THEIR WAYS; A MEMORY OF THE JACOBEAN CRAZE by FRANK GELETT BURGESS ENDORSEMENT TO THE DEED OF SEPARATION, IN THE APRIL OF 1816 by GEORGE GORDON BYRON |