The breath of dew, and twilight's grace, <br />Be on the lonely battle-place; <br />And to so young, so kind a face, <br />The long, protecting grasses cling! <br />(Alas, alas, <br />The one inexorable thing!) <br /> <br />In rocky hollows cool and deep, <br />The bees our boyhood hunted sleep; <br />The early moon from Ida's steep <br />Comes to the empty wrestling-ring. <br />(Alas, alas, <br />The one inexorable thing!) <br /> <br />Upon the widowed wind recede <br />No echoes of the shepherd's reed, <br />And children without laughter lead <br />The war-horse to the watering. <br />(Alas, alas, <br />The one inexorable thing!) <br /> <br />Thou stranger Ajax Telamon! <br />What to the loveliest hast thou done, <br />That ne'er with him a maid may run <br />Across the marigolds in spring? <br />(Alas, alas, <br />The one inexorable thing!) <br /> <br />With footstep separate and slow <br />The father and the mother go, <br />Not now upon an urn they know <br />To mingle tears for comforting. <br />(Alas, alas, <br />The one inexorable thing!) <br /> <br />The world to me has nothing dear <br />Beyond the namesake river here: <br />O Simois is wild and clear! <br />And to his brink my heart I bring; <br />(Alas, alas, <br />The one inexorable thing!) <br /> <br />My heart no more, if that might be <br />Would stay his waters from the sea, <br />To cover Troy, to cover me, <br />To save us from the perishing. <br />(Alas, alas, <br />The one inexorable thing!)<br /><br />Louise Imogen Guiney<br /><br />http://www.poemhunter.com/poem/a-friend-s-song-for-simoisius/
