TO A GREEK STATUE

Beautiful statue of Parian marble,

Dreaming alone in the northern sunlight,

Ivory-tinted, your slender arms beckon;

I follow, I follow.

Slender and white is your beautiful body,

Gleaming against the gray walls that surround you;

Like hyacinth-flowers beneath the snow sleeping

Is the dream you emprison;—

A dream of beauty that lingers forever,

A dream of the amethyst sky of midnight,

A dream of the jacinth blue of still waters,

Reflecting white temples.

Your white arms beckon, I follow, I follow,

My dream goes forth with your dream to wander;

You lead me into a moonlit garden

Beside the AEgean.

White in the moonlight gleams the temple

Cutting the purple sky with its pediment;

Diamonds and sapphires fall from the fountain;

Black are the cypress trees.

The gods are asleep in the silent temple;

Only the lapping of waves on the sea-sand

Mingles its drowsy rhythmical beating

With the bells of the fountain.

Soft lie the panther-skins on the cool grasses,

Not in vain are your white arms lifted;

And my dream of beauty and your dream eternal

Embrace in the moonlight.