TO ——.

Strange was the doom of Heracles, whose shade

Had dwelling in dim Hades the unblest,

While yet his form and presence sat a guest

With the old immortals when the feast was made.

Thine like, thus differs; form and presence laid

In this dim chamber of enforcèd rest,

It is the unseen “shade” which, risen, hath pressed

Above all heights where feet Olympian strayed.

My soul admires to hear thee speak; thy thought

Falls from a high place like an August star,

Or some great eagle from his air-hung rings —

When swooping past a snow-cold mountain scar —

Down he steep slope of a long sunbeam brought,

He stirs the wheat with the steerage of his wings.