Delphi Poetry Anthology: The World's Greatest Poems (Delphi Poets Series Book 50)

by Homer

  To win the treasure of the tomb.

  For this will be St. Michael’s night,

  And, though stars be dim, the moon is bright;

  And the Cross, of bloody red,

  Will point to the grave of the mighty dead.

  XXIII

  “What he gives thee, see thou keep;

  Stay not thou for food or sleep:

  Be it scroll, or be it book,

  Into it, Knight, thou must not look;

  If thou readest, thou art lorn!

  Better hadst thou ne’er been born.” —

  XXIV

  “O swiftly can speed my dapple-grey steed,

  Which drinks of the Teviot clear;

  Ere break of day,” the Warrior ‘gan say,

  “Again will I be here:

  And safer by none may thy errand be done,

  Than, noble dame, by me;

  Letter nor line know I never a one,

  Wer’t my neck-verse at .”

  XXV

  Soon in his saddle sate he fast,

  And soon the steep descent he past,

  Soon cross’d the sounding ,

  And soon the Teviot side he won.

  Eastward the wooded path he rode,

  Green hazels o’er his basnet nod;

  He passed the of Goldiland,

  And cross’d old Borthwick’s roaring strand;

  Dimly he view’d the Moat-hill’s mound,

  Where Druid shades still flitted round;

  In Hawick twinkled many a light;

  Behind him soon they set in night;

  And soon he spurr’d his courser keen

  Beneath the tower of Hazeldean.

  XXVI

  The clattering hoofs the watchmen mark; —

  “Stand ho! thou courier of the dark.” —

  “For Branksome, ho!” the knight rejoin’d,

  And left the friendly tower behind.

  He turn’d him now from Teviotside,

  And, guided by the tinkling rill,

  Northward the dark ascent did ride,

  And gained the moor at Horsliehill;

  Broad on the left before him lay,

  For many a mile, the .

  XXVII

  A moment now he slack’d his speed,

  A moment breathed his panting steed;

  Drew saddle-girth and corslet-band,

  And loosen’d in the sheath his brand.

  On Minto-crags the moonbeams glint,

  Where Barnhill hew’d his bed of flint;

  Who flung his outlaw’d limbs to rest,

  Where falcons hang their giddy nest,

  Mid cliffs, from whence his eagle eye

  For many a league his prey could spy;

  Cliffs, doubling, on their echoes borne,

  The terrors of the robber’s horn.

  Cliffs, which, for many a year,

  The warbling Doric reed shall hear,

  When some sad swain shall teach the grove,

  Ambition is no cure for love!

  XXVIII

  Unchallenged, thence pass’d Deloraine,

  To ancient Riddel’s fair domain,

  Where Aill, from mountains freed,

  Down from the lakes did raving come;

  Each wave was creased with tawny foam,

  Like the mane of a chestnut steed.

  In vain! no torrent, deep or broad,

  Might bar the bold moss-trooper’s road.

  XXIX

  At the first plunge the horse sunk low,

  And the water broke o’er the saddlebow;

  Above the flaming tide, I ween,

  Scarce half the charger’s neck was seen;

  For he was from counter to tail,

  And the rider was armed complete in mail;

  Never heavier man and horse

  Stemm’d a midnight torrent’s force.

  The warrior’s very plume, I say

  Was daggled by the dashing spray;

  Yet, through good heart, and Our Ladye’s grace,

  At length he gain’d the landing place.

  XXX

  Now Bowden Moor the march-man won,

  And sternly shook his plumed head,

  As glanced his eye o’er ;

  For on his soul the slaughter red

  Of that unhallow’d morn arose,

  When first the Scott and Carr were foes;

  When royal James beheld the fray,

  Prize to the victor of the day;

  When Home and Douglas, in the van,

  Bore down Buccleuch’s retiring clan,

  Till gallant Cessford’s heart-blood dear

  Reek’d on dark Elliot’s Border spear.

  XXXI

  In bitter mood he spurred fast,

  And soon the hated heath was past;

  And far beneath, in lustre wan,

  Old Melros’ rose, and fair Tweed ran:

  Like some tall rock with lichens grey,

  Seem’d dimly huge, the dark Abbaye.

  When Harwick he pass’d, had curfew rung,

  Now midnight were in Melrose sung.

  The sound, upon the fitful gale,

  In solemn wise did rise and fail,

  Like that wild harp, whose magic tone

  Is waken’d by the winds alone.

  But when Melrose he reach’d, ’twas silence all;

  He meetly stabled his steed in stall,

  And sought the convent’s lonely wall.

  Here paused the harp; and with its swell

  The Master’s fire and courage fell;

  Dejectedly, and low, he bow’d,

  And, gazing timid on the crowd,

  He seem’d to seek, in every eye,

  If they approved his mistrelsy;

  And, diffident of present praise,

  Somewhat he spoke of former days,

  And how old age, and wand’ring long,

  Had done his hand and harp some wrong.

  The Duchess, and her daughters fair,

  And every gentle lady there,

  Each after each, in due degree,

  Gave praises to his melody;

  His hand was true, his voice was clear,

  And much they long’d the rest to hear.

  Encouraged thus, the Aged Man,

  After meet rest, again began.

  List of Poems in Alphabetical Order

  List of Poets in Alphabetical Order

  The Lady of the Lake. Canto One

  Sir Walter Scott (1771–1832)

  The Chase

  I.

  The stag at eve had drunk his fill,

  Where danced the moon on Monan’s rill,

  And deep his midnight lair had made

  In lone Glenartney’s hazel shade;

  But when the sun his beacon red

  Had kindled on Benvoirlich’s head,

  The deep-mouthed bloodhound’s heavy bay

  Resounded up the rocky way,

  And faint, from farther distance borne,

  Were heard the clanging hoof and horn.

  II.

  As Chief, who hears his warder call,

  ‘To arms! the foemen storm the wall,’

  The antlered monarch of the waste

  Sprung from his heathery couch in haste.

  But ere his fleet career he took,

  The dew-drops from his flanks he shook;

  Like crested leader proud and high

  Tossed his beamed frontlet to the sky;

  A moment gazed adown the dale,

  A moment snuffed the tainted gale,

  A moment listened to the cry,

  That thickened as the chase drew nigh;

  Then, as the headmost foes appeared,

  With one brave bound the copse he cleared,

  And, stretching forward free and far,

  Sought the wild heaths of Uam-Var.

  III.

  Yelled on the view the opening pack;

  Rock, glen, and cavern paid them back;

&nb
sp; To many a mingled sound at once

  The awakened mountain gave response.

  A hundred dogs bayed deep and strong,

  Clattered a hundred steeds along,

  Their peal the merry horns rung out,

  A hundred voices joined the shout;

  With hark and whoop and wild halloo,

  No rest Benvoirlich’s echoes knew.

  Far from the tumult fled the roe,

  Close in her covert cowered the doe,

  The falcon, from her cairn on high,

  Cast on the rout a wondering eye,

  Till far beyond her piercing ken

  The hurricane had swept the glen.

  Faint, and more faint, its failing din

  Returned from cavern, cliff, and linn,

  And silence settled, wide and still,

  On the lone wood and mighty hill.

  IV.

  Less loud the sounds of sylvan war

  Disturbed the heights of Uam-Var,

  And roused the cavern where, ‘t is told,

  A giant made his den of old;

  For ere that steep ascent was won,

  High in his pathway hung the sun,

  And many a gallant, stayed perforce,

  Was fain to breathe his faltering horse,

  And of the trackers of the deer

  Scarce half the lessening pack was near;

  So shrewdly on the mountain-side

  Had the bold burst their mettle tried.

  V.

  The noble stag was pausing now

  Upon the mountain’s southern brow,

  Where broad extended, far beneath,

  The varied realms of fair Menteith.

  With anxious eye he wandered o’er

  Mountain and meadow, moss and moor,

  And pondered refuge from his toil,

  By far Lochard or Aberfoyle.

  But nearer was the copsewood gray

  That waved and wept on Loch Achray,

  And mingled with the pine-trees blue

  On the bold cliffs of Benvenue.

  Fresh vigor with the hope returned,

  With flying foot the heath he spurned,

  Held westward with unwearied race,

  And left behind the panting chase.

  VI.

  ‘T were long to tell what steeds gave o’er,

  As swept the hunt through Cambusmore;

  What reins were tightened in despair,

  When rose Benledi’s ridge in air;

  Who flagged upon Bochastle’s heath,

  Who shunned to stem the flooded Teith, —

  For twice that day, from shore to shore,

  The gallant stag swam stoutly o’er.

  Few were the stragglers, following far,

  That reached the lake of Vennachar;

  And when the Brigg of Turk was won,

  The headmost horseman rode alone.

  VII.

  Alone, but with unbated zeal,

  That horseman plied the scourge and steel;

  For jaded now, and spent with toil,

  Embossed with foam, and dark with soil,

  While every gasp with sobs he drew,

  The laboring stag strained full in view.

  Two dogs of black Saint Hubert’s breed,

  Unmatched for courage, breath, and speed,

  Fast on his flying traces came,

  And all but won that desperate game;

  For, scarce a spear’s length from his haunch,

  Vindictive toiled the bloodhounds stanch;

  Nor nearer might the dogs attain,

  Nor farther might the quarry strain

  Thus up the margin of the lake,

  Between the precipice and brake,

  O’er stock and rock their race they take.

  VIII.

  The Hunter marked that mountain high,

  The lone lake’s western boundary,

  And deemed the stag must turn to bay,

  Where that huge rampart barred the way;

  Already glorying in the prize,

  Measured his antlers with his eyes;

  For the death-wound and death-halloo

  Mustered his breath, his whinyard drew: —

  But thundering as he came prepared,

  With ready arm and weapon bared,

  The wily quarry shunned the shock,

  And turned him from the opposing rock;

  Then, dashing down a darksome glen,

  Soon lost to hound and Hunter’s ken,

  In the deep Trosachs’ wildest nook

  His solitary refuge took.

  There, while close couched the thicket shed

  Cold dews and wild flowers on his head,

  He heard the baffled dogs in vain

  Rave through the hollow pass amain,

  Chiding the rocks that yelled again.

  IX.

  Close on the hounds the Hunter came,

  To cheer them on the vanished game;

  But, stumbling in the rugged dell,

  The gallant horse exhausted fell.

  The impatient rider strove in vain

  To rouse him with the spur and rein,

  For the good steed, his labors o’er,

  Stretched his stiff limbs, to rise no more;

  Then, touched with pity and remorse,

  He sorrowed o’er the expiring horse.

  ‘I little thought, when first thy rein

  I slacked upon the banks of Seine,

  That Highland eagle e’er should feed

  On thy fleet limbs, my matchless steed!

  Woe worth the chase, woe worth the day,

  That costs thy life, my gallant gray!’

  X.

  Then through the dell his horn resounds,

  From vain pursuit to call the hounds.

  Back limped, with slow and crippled pace,

  The sulky leaders of the chase;

  Close to their master’s side they pressed,

  With drooping tail and humbled crest;

  But still the dingle’s hollow throat

  Prolonged the swelling bugle-note.

  The owlets started from their dream,

  The eagles answered with their scream,

  Round and around the sounds were cast,

  Till echo seemed an answering blast;

  And on the Hunter tried his way,

  To join some comrades of the day,

  Yet often paused, so strange the road,

  So wondrous were the scenes it showed.

  XI.

  The western waves of ebbing day

  Rolled o’er the glen their level way;

  Each purple peak, each flinty spire,

  Was bathed in floods of living fire.

  But not a setting beam could glow

  Within the dark ravines below,

  Where twined the path in shadow hid,

  Round many a rocky pyramid,

  Shooting abruptly from the dell

  Its thunder-splintered pinnacle;

  Round many an insulated mass,

  The native bulwarks of the pass,

  Huge as the tower which builders vain

  Presumptuous piled on Shinar’s plain.

  The rocky summits, split and rent,

  Formed turret, dome, or battlement.

  Or seemed fantastically set

  With cupola or minaret,

  Wild crests as pagod ever decked,

  Or mosque of Eastern architect.

  Nor were these earth-born castles bare,

  Nor lacked they many a banner fair;

  For, from their shivered brows displayed,

  Far o’er the unfathomable glade,

  All twinkling with the dewdrop sheen,

  The briar-rose fell in streamers green,

  kind creeping shrubs of thousand dyes

  Waved in the west-wind’s summer sighs.

  XII.

  Boon nature scattered, free and wild,

  Each plant or flower, the mountain’s child.r />
  Here eglantine embalmed the air,

  Hawthorn and hazel mingled there;

  The primrose pale and violet flower

  Found in each cliff a narrow bower;

  Foxglove and nightshade, side by side,

  Emblems of punishment and pride,

  Grouped their dark hues with every stain

  The weather-beaten crags retain.

  With boughs that quaked at every breath,

  Gray birch and aspen wept beneath;

  Aloft, the ash and warrior oak

  Cast anchor in the rifted rock;

  And, higher yet, the pine-tree hung

  His shattered trunk, and frequent flung,

  Where seemed the cliffs to meet on high,

  His boughs athwart the narrowed sky.

  Highest of all, where white peaks glanced,

  Where glistening streamers waved and danced,

  The wanderer’s eye could barely view

  The summer heaven’s delicious blue;

  So wondrous wild, the whole might seem

  The scenery of a fairy dream.

  XIII.

  Onward, amid the copse ‘gan peep

  A narrow inlet, still and deep,

  Affording scarce such breadth of brim

  As served the wild duck’s brood to swim.

  Lost for a space, through thickets veering,

  But broader when again appearing,

  Tall rocks and tufted knolls their face

  Could on the dark-blue mirror trace;

  And farther as the Hunter strayed,

  Still broader sweep its channels made.

  The shaggy mounds no longer stood,

  Emerging from entangled wood,

  But, wave-encircled, seemed to float,

  Like castle girdled with its moat;

  Yet broader floods extending still

  Divide them from their parent hill,

  Till each, retiring, claims to be

  An islet in an inland sea.

  XIV.

  And now, to issue from the glen,

  No pathway meets the wanderer’s ken,

  Unless he climb with footing nice

  A far-projecting precipice.

  The broom’s tough roots his ladder made,

  The hazel saplings lent their aid;

  And thus an airy point he won,

  Where, gleaming with the setting sun,