To Helen / Edgar Allan Poe

To Helen

Helen, thy beauty is to me
Like those Nicéan barks of yore,
That gently, o'er a perfumed sea,
The weary, way-worn wanderer bore
To his own native shore.

On desperate seas long wont to roam,
Thy hyacinth hair, thy classic face,
Thy Naiad airs have brought me home
To the glory that was Greece,
And the grandeur that was Rome.

Lo! in yon brilliant window-niche
How statue-like I see thee stand,
The agate lamp within thy hand!
Ah, Psyche, from the regions which
Are Holy-Land!

~~

Edgar Allan Poe (1809-1849), 1839

from The Raven, and other poems, 1845

[Poem is in the public domain worldwide]

Edgar Allan Poe biography

"To Helen" read by Christopher MacInttyre. Music: "Gymnopedia No. 1" by Erik Satie