Smile then, children, hand in hand Bright and white as the summer snow, Or that young King of the Grecian land, Who smiled on Thetis, long ago, -- So long ago when, heart aflame, The grave and gentle Peleus came To the shore where the halcyon flies To wed the maiden of his devotion, The dancing lady with sky-blue eyes, Thetis, the darling of Paradise, The daughter of old Ocean. Seas before her rise and break, Dolphins tumble in her wake Along the sapphire courses: With Tritons ablow on their pearly shells With a plash of waves and a clash of bells From the glimmering house where her Father dwells She drives his white-tail horses! And the boys of heaven gowned and crowned, Have Aphrodite to lead them round, Aphrodite with hair unbound Her silver breasts adorning. Her long, her soft, her streaming hair, Falls on a silver breast laid bare By the stir and swing of the sealit air And the movement of the morning. | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...TO HENRY LINCOLN JOHNSON - LAWYER by GEORGIA DOUGLAS JOHNSON DR. SCUDDER'S CLINICAL LECTURE by EDGAR LEE MASTERS APPRECIATION by THOMAS BAILEY ALDRICH PSALM 104: THE MAJESTY AND MERCY OF GOD by OLD TESTAMENT BIBLE NIGHT, FR. SONGS OF INNOCENCE by WILLIAM BLAKE |