THE JOURNEY OF LIFE. BENEATH the waning moon I walk at night, And pitfalls lurk in shade along the ground, The trampled earth returns a sound of fear- And I, with faltering footsteps, journey on, With warmth, and certainty, and boundless light. TRANSLATIONS. VERSION OF A FRAGMENT OF SIMONIDES. THE night winds howled-the billows dashed Against the tossing chest ; And Danaë to her broken heart Her slumbering infant pressed. "My little child"-in tears she said "To wake and weep is mine, But thou canst sleep-thou dost not know Thy mother's lot, and thine. "The moon is up, the moonbeams smile They tremble on the main ; But dark, within my floating cell, To me they smile in vain. 231 "Thy folded mantle wraps thee warm, Thou dost not hear the shrieking gust, "As o'er thy sweet unconscious face I think, didst thou but know thy fate, "Yet, dear one, sleep, and sleep, ye winds That vex the restless brine When shall these eyes, my babe, be sealed As peacefully as thine!" |