I know Cythera long is desolate; <br />I know the winds have stripp'd the gardens green. <br />Alas, my friends! beneath the fierce sun's weight <br />A barren reef lies where Love's flowers have been, <br />Nor ever lover on that coast is seen! <br />So be it, but we seek a fabled shore, <br />To lull our vague desires with mystic lore, <br />To wander where Love's labyrinths beguile; <br />There let us land, there dream for evermore: <br />'It may be we shall touch the happy isle.' <br /> <br />The sea may be our sepulchre. If Fate, <br />If tempests wreak their wrath on us, serene <br />We watch the bolt of heaven, and scorn the hate <br />Of angry gods that smite us in their spleen. <br />Perchance the jealous mists are but the screen <br />That veils the fairy coast we would explore. <br />Come, though the sea be vex'd, and breakers roar, <br />Come, for the air of this old world is vile, <br />Haste we, and toil, and faint not at the oar; <br />'It may be we shall touch the happy isle.' <br /> <br />Grey serpents trail in temples desecrate <br />Where Cypris smiled, the golden maid, the queen, <br />And ruined is the palace of our state; <br />But happy Loves flit round the mast, and keen <br />The shrill wind sings the silken cords between. <br />Heroes are we, with wearied hearts and sore, <br />Whose flower is faded and whose locks are hoar, <br />Yet haste, light skiffs, where myrtle thickets smile; <br />Love's panthers sleep 'mid roses, as of yore: <br />'It may be we shall touch the happy isle!' <br /> <br />ENVOY. <br /> <br />Sad eyes! the blue sea laughs, as heretofore. <br />Ah, singing birds your happy music pour! <br />Ah, poets, leave the sordid earth awhile; <br />Flit to these ancient gods we still adore: <br />'It may be we shall touch the happy isle!'<br /><br />Andrew Lang<br /><br />http://www.poemhunter.com/poem/ballade-of-the-voyage-to-cythera/
