QUAND les astres de Noël
Brillaient, palpitaient au ciel,
Six gaillards, et chacun ivre,
Chantaient gaîment dans le givre,
“Bons amis, 5
Allons done chez Agassiz!”
Ces illustres Pèlerins
D’Outre-Mer adroits et fins,
Se donnant des airs de prêtre,
A l’envi se vantaient d’être 10
“Bons amis
De Jean Rudolphe Agassiz!”
Œil-de-Perdrix, grand farceur,
Sans reproche et sans pudeur,
Dans son patois de Bourgogne, 15
Bredouillait comme un ivrogne,
“Bons amis,
J’ai dansé chez Agassiz!”
Verzenay le Champenois,
Bon Français, point New-Yorquois, 20
Mais des environs d’Avize,
Fredonne à mainte reprise,
“Bons amis,
J’ai chanté chez Agassiz!”
À côté marchait un vieux 25
Hidalgo, mais non mousseux;
Dans le temps de Charlemagne
Fut son père Grand d’Espagne!
“Bons amis,
J’ai diné chez Agassiz!” 30
Derrière eux un Bordelais,
Gascon, s’il en fut jamais,
Parfumé de poésie
Riait, chantait, plein de vie,
“Bons amis, 35
J’ai soupé chez Agassiz!”
Avec ce beau cadet roux,
Bras dessus et bras dessous,
Mine altière et couleur terne,
Vint le Sire de Sauterne; 40
“Bons amis,
J’ai couché chez Agassiz!”
Mais le dernier de ces preux,
Etait un pauvre Chartreux,
Qui disait, d’un ton robuste, 45
“Bénédictions sur le Juste!
Bons amis,
Bénissons Père Agassiz!”
Ils arrivent trois à trois,
Montent l’escalier de bois 50
Clopin-clopant! quel gendarme
Peut permettre ce vacarme,
Bons amis,
À la porte d’Agassiz!
“Ouvrez done, mon bon Seigneur, 55
Ouvrez vite et n’ayez peur;
Ouvrez, ouvrez, car nous sommes
Gens de bien et gentilshommes,
Bons amis
De la famille Agassiz!” 60
Chut, ganaches! taisez-vous!
C’en est trop de vos glouglous;
Epargnez aux Philosophes
Vos abominables strophes!
Bons amis, 65
Respectez mon Agassiz!
THE MASQUE OF PANDORA AND OTHER POEMS
CONTENTS
The Masque of Pandorra
The Masque of Pandorra: Introductory
The Workshop of Hephæstus
Olympus
Tower of Prometheus on Mount Caucasus
The Air
The House of Epimetheus
In the Garden
The House of Epimetheus
In the Garden
Birds of Passage: Flight the Third.
Fata Morgana
The Haunted Chamber
The Meeting
Vox Populi
The Castle-Builder
Changed
The Challenge
The Brook and the Wave
Aftermath
The Hanging Of The Crane
Morituri Salutamus
A Book of Sonnets: Part I.
Three Friends of Mine
Chaucer
Shakespeare
Milton
Keats
The Galaxy
The Sound of the Sea
A Summer Day by the Sea
The Tides
A Shadow
A Nameless Grave
Sleep
The Old Bridge at Florence
Il Ponte Vecchio di Firenze
Birds of Passage: Flight the Fourth.
Charles Sumner
Travels by the Fireside
Cadenabbia
Monte Cassino
Amalfi
The Sermon of St. Francis
Belisarius
Songo River
The Masque of Pandorra
The Masque of Pandorra: Introductory
The title poem in the volume, The Masque of Pandora and other Poems, published in 1875. It was adapted for the stage, and set to music by Alfred Cellier, and was brought out in an adaptation by Bolton Rowe at the Boston Theatre in 1881. Mr. Longfellow wrote for Miss Blanche Roosevelt, who was principally concerned in putting it on the stage, and who took the part of Pandora, the following song and chorus: —
WHAT place is this? Oh tell me, I implore!
Tell me what I am feeling, hearing, seeing;
If this be life, oh give me more and more.
Till I am filled with the delight of being.
What forms mysterious people this dark space? 5
What voices and what sounds of music greet me?
And who are these, so fair in form and face,
That with such gracious welcome come to meet me?
CHORUS
Blow, bellows, blow! and keep the flame from dying,
Till from the iron on our anvils lying 10
We forge the thunderbolts of Zeus supreme,
Whose smothered lightnings in the ashes gleam.
I.
The Workshop of Hephæstus
HEPHÆSTUS (standing before the statue of Pandora).
NOT fashioned out of gold, like Hera’s throne,
Nor forged of iron like the thunderbolts
Of Zeus omnipotent, or other works
Wrought by my hands at Lemnos or Olympus,
But moulded in soft clay, that unresisting 5
Yields itself to the touch, this lovely form
Before me stands, perfect in every part.
Not Aphrodite’s self appeared more fair,
When first upwafted by caressing winds
She came to high Olympus, and the gods 10
Paid homage to her beauty. Thus her hair
Was cinctured; thus her floating drapery
Was like a cloud about her, and her face
Was radiant with the sunshine and the sea.
THE VOICE OF ZEUS.
Is thy work done, Hephæstus?
HEPHÆSTUS.
It is finished! 15
THE VOICE.
Not finished till I breathe the breath of life
Into her nostrils, and she moves and speaks.
HEPHÆSTUS.
Will she become immortal like ourselves?
THE VOICE.
The form that thou hast fashioned out of clay
Is of the earth and mortal; but the spirit, 20
The life, the exhalation of my breath,
Is of diviner essence and immortal.
The gods shall shower on her their benefactions,
She shall possess all gifts: the gift of song,
The gift of eloquence, the gift of beauty, 25
The fascination and the nameless charm
That shall lead all men captive.
HEPHÆSTUS.
Wherefore? wherefore?
A wind shakes the house.
I hear the rushing of a mighty wind
Through all the halls and chambers of my house!
Her parted lips inhale it, and her bosom 30
Heaves with the inspiration. As a reed
Beside a river in the rippling current
Bends to and fro, she bows or lifts her head.
She gazes round about as if amazed;
She is alive; she breathes, but yet she speaks not! 35
PANDORA descends from the pedestal
CHORUS OF THE GRACES
AGLAIA.
In the workshop of Hephæstus
What is this I see?
Have the Gods to f
our increased us
Who were only three?
Beautiful in form and feature, 40
Lovely as the day,
Can there be so fair a creature
Formed of common clay?
THALIA.
O sweet, pale face! O lovely eyes of azure,
Clear as the waters of a brook that run 45
Limpid and laughing in the summer sun!
O golden hair, that like a miser’s treasure
In its abundance overflows the measure!
O graceful form, that cloudlike floatest on
With the soft, undulating gait of one 50
Who moveth as if motion were a pleasure!
By what name shall I call thee? Nymph or Muse,
Callirrhoë or Urania? Some sweet name
Whose every syllable is a caress
Would best befit thee; but I cannot choose, 55
Nor do I care to choose; for still the same,
Nameless or named, will be thy loveliness.
EUPHROSYNE.
Dowered with all celestial gifts,
Skilled in every art
That ennobles and uplifts 60
And delights the heart,
Fair on earth shall be thy fame
As thy face is fair,
And Pandora be the name
Thou henceforth shalt bear. 65
II.
Olympus
HERMES (putting on his sandals).
MUCH must he toil who serves the Immortal Gods,
And I, who am their herald, most of all.
No rest have I, nor respite. I no sooner
Unclasp the wingèd sandals from my feet,
Than I again must clasp them, and depart 5
Upon some foolish errand. But to-day
The errand is not foolish. Never yet
With greater joy did I obey the summons
That sends me earthward. I will fly so swiftly
That my caduceus in the whistling air 10
Shall make a sound like the Pandæan pipes,
Cheating the shepherds; for to-day I go,
Commissioned by high-thundering Zeus, to lead
A maiden to Prometheus, in his tower,
And by my cunning arguments persuade him 15
To marry her. What mischief lies concealed
In this design I know not; but I know
Who thinks of marrying hath already taken
One step upon the road to penitence.
Such embassies delight me. Forth I launch 20
On the sustaining air, nor fear to fall
Like Icarus, nor swerve aside like him
Who drove amiss Hyperion’s fiery steeds.
I sink, I fly! The yielding element
Folds itself round about me like an arm, 25
And holds me as a mother holds her child.
III.
Tower of Prometheus on Mount Caucasus
PROMETHEUS.
I HEAR the trumpet of Alectryon
Proclaim the dawn. The stars begin to fade,
And all the heavens are full of prophecies
And evil auguries. Blood-red last night
I saw great Kronos rise; the crescent moon 5
Sank through the mist, as if it were the scythe
His parricidal hand had flung far down
The western steeps. O ye Immortal Gods,
What evil are ye plotting and contriving?
HERMES and PANDORA at the threshold.
PANDORA.
I cannot cross the threshold. An unseen 10
And icy hand repels me. These blank walls
Oppress me with their weight!
PROMETHEUS.
Powerful ye are,
But not omnipotent. Ye cannot fight
Against Necessity. The Fates control you, 15
As they do us, and so far we are equals!
PANDORA.
Motionless, passionless, companionless,
He sits there muttering in his beard. His voice
Is like a river flowing underground!
HERMES.
Prometheus, hail!
PROMETHEUS.
Who calls me?
HERMES.
It is I. 20
Dost thou not know me?
PROMETHEUS.
By thy wingèd cap
And wingèd heels I know thee. Thou art Hermes,
Captain of thieves! Hast thou again been stealing
The heifers of Admetus in the sweet
Meadows of asphodel? or Hera’s girdle? 25
Or the earth-shaking trident of Poseidon?
HERMES.
And thou, Prometheus; say, hast thou again
Been stealing fire from Helios’ chariot-wheels
To light thy furnaces?
PROMETHEUS.
Why comest thou hither
So early in the dawn?
HERMES.
The Immortal Gods 30
Know naught of late or early. Zeus himself,
The omnipotent hath sent me.
PROMETHEUS.
For what purpose?
HERMES.
To bring this maiden to thee.
PROMETHEUS.
I mistrust
The Gods and all their gifts. If they have sent her
It is for no good purpose.
HERMES.
What disaster 35
Could she bring on thy house, who is a woman?
PROMETHEUS.
The Gods are not my friends, nor am I theirs.
Whatever comes from them, though in a shape
As beautiful as this, is evil only.
Who art thou?
PANDORA.
One who, though to thee unknown, 40
Yet knoweth thee.
PROMETHEUS.
How shouldst thou know me, woman?
PANDORA.
Who knoweth not Prometheus the humane?
PROMETHEUS.
Prometheus the unfortunate; to whom
Both Gods and men have shown themselves ungrateful.
When every spark was quenched on every hearth 45
Throughout the earth, I brought to man the fire
And all its ministrations. My reward
Hath been the rock and vulture.
HERMES.
But the Gods
At last relent and pardon.
PROMETHEUS.
They relent not;
They pardon not; they are implacable, 50
Revengeful, unforgiving!
HERMES.
As a pledge
Of reconciliation they have sent to thee
This divine being, to be thy companion,
And bring into thy melancholy house
The sunshine and the fragrance of her youth. 55
PROMETHEUS.
I need them not. I have within myself
All that my heart desires; the ideal beauty
Which the creative faculty of mind
Fashions and follows in a thousand shapes
More lovely than the real. My own thoughts 60
Are my companions; my designs and labors
And aspirations are my only friends.
HERMES.
Decide not rashly. The decision made
Can never be recalled. The Gods implore not,
Plead not, solicit not; they only offer 65
Choice and occasion, which once being passed
Return no more. Dost thou accept the gift?
PROMETHEUS.
No gift of theirs, in whatsoever shape
It comes to me, with whatsoever charm
To fascinate my sense, will I receive. 70
Leave me.
PANDORA.
Let us go hence. I will not stay.
HERMES.
We leave thee to thy vacant dreams, and all
The silence and the solitude of thought,
The endless bitterness of unbelief,
The loneliness of existence without love. 75<
br />
CHORUS OF THE FATES
CLOTHO.
How the Titan, the defiant,
The self-centred, self-reliant,
Wrapped in visions and illusions,
Robs himself of life’s best gifts!
Till by all the storm-winds shaken, 80
By the blast of fate o’ertaken,
Hopeless, helpless, and forsaken,
In the mists of his confusions
To the reefs of doom he drifts!
LACHESIS.
Sorely tried and sorely tempted, 85
From no agonies exempted,
In the penance of his trial,
And the discipline of pain;
Often by illusions cheated,
Often baffled and defeated 90
In the tasks to be completed,
He, by toil and self-denial,
To the highest shall attain.
ATROPOS.
Tempt no more the noble schemer;
Bear unto some idle dreamer 95
This new toy and fascination,
This new dalliance and delight!
To the garden where reposes
Epimetheus crowned with roses,
To the door that never closes 100
Upon pleasure and temptation,
Bring this vision of the night!
IV.
The Air
HERMES (returning to Olympus).
AS lonely as the tower that he inhabits,
As firm and cold as are the crags about him,
Prometheus stands. The thunderbolts of Zeus
Alone can move him; but the tender heart
Of Epimetheus, burning at white heat, 5
Hammers and flames like all his brother’s forges!
Now as an arrow from Hyperion’s bow,
My errand done, I fly, I float, I soar
Into the air, returning to Olympus.
O joy of motion! O delight to cleave 10
The infinite realms of space, the liquid ether,
Through the warm sunshine and the cooling cloud,
Myself as light as sunbeam or as cloud!
With one touch of my swift and wingèd feet,
I spurn the solid earth, and leave it rocking 15
Delphi Complete Works of Henry Wadsworth Longfellow (Delphi Poets Series Book 13) Page 73
