Classic Poem

Sweet perfumes of ambrosia rise
From thy full cup and drown my sense,
O Hebe Goddess, passing hence
In radiant flight with smiling eyes.

No more I feel the chilling pains
Of gloomy age, with sorrow rife,
O Hebe, but I feel the life
Of Hellas coursing through my veins.

The ruined days that strew the slope
Of my dark past rose up once more,
O Hebe, pleading to restore
Themselves in thy sweet light of Hope.

And the new years, like mountain heights
That catch the day, while all below
Is dark, O Hebe, blush and glow.
Illumined by thy rosy lights.

Bright star, thou with thy radiant fires
On days and years alike dost shine
From Heaven; as, in some Gothic shrine
High over all the climbing spires

Of marble black and white, upon
The topmost pinnacle doth stand
Jesse's sweet daughter, calm and grand
And glistening like a golden sun;

On champaign seamed with silver streaks
Of winding river she gazes down.
On waving corn and distant town
And gleaming snow on Alpine peaks.

Though drifting clouds enwrap her, yet
Her shining face smiles through the mist
When dawning May the earth hath kissed
And sad November suns are set.