V
Like one great opal on the breast of Night,
Soft and translucent, hangs the orb of June!
I hear wild pipings of a joyous tune
Played on a golden reed for the delight
Of you, my hidden, lovely Eremite –
You by the fountain from the marble hewn –
You silent as in dream, with flowers strewn
About your feet – you goddess, robed in white!
Mute and amazed, I at the broken wall
Lean fearful, lest the sudden, dreadful dawn
For me Diana's awful doom let fall;
And I be cursed with curious Actæon,
Save that you find in me this strong defence –
My adoration of your innocence.
~~
Robert Norwood
from His Lady of the Sonnets, 1915
[Poem is in the public domain in Canada, the United States, and the European Union]
Robert Norwood biography
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