When now, above the fragile bark, <br />The howling tempest gathered dark, <br />And wide the foaming billows spread, <br />Danäe, wild with rising fears, <br />Her eyes bedew'd with bitter tears, <br />Round Perseus threw her arms, and said:- <br /> <br />'Thou durst not guess, O babe divine! <br />The griefs that rend this heart of mine; <br />Thou sleepest on thy mother's breast, <br />Nor knowest how weak a bark is ours, <br />Nor dread'st the angry ocean's powers- <br />The winds but lullaby thy rest. <br /> <br />'Wrapt in thy little cloak, my child, <br />Thou heed'st not the waters wild, <br />As o'er thy long dark hair they sweep; <br />My love, my life! if thou couldst see <br />Thy hapless mother's misery, <br />Those slumb'ring eyes would learn to weep. <br /> <br />'Yet sleep, my boy-I charge thee sleep, <br />And slumber thou, resistless deep, <br />And sleep ye, too, my many woes; <br />Oh! grant, great Jove, a mother's prayer, <br />My Perseus in thy mercy spare <br />(Rash wish!) to punish Danäe foes.'<br /><br />Peter John Allan<br /><br />http://www.poemhunter.com/poem/danae-a-fragment-from-simonides/
