ENDYMION.
Reading edition
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BY THOMAS BUCHANAN READ.
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What time the stars first flocked into the blue
Behind young Hesper, shepherd of the eve,
Sleep bathed the fair boy’s lids with charméd dew
Mid flowers that all day blossomed to receive
Endymion.
Lo, where he lay encircled in his dream!
The moss was glad to pillow his soft hair;
And toward him leaned the lily from the stream;
The hanging vine waved wooing in the air
Endymion.
The brook that erewhile won its easy way
O’errun with meadow grasses long and cool,
Now reeled into a fuller tide and lay
Caressing in its clear enamored pool
Endymion.
And all the sweet, delicious airs that fan
Enchanted gardens in their hour of bloom,
Blown through the soft invisible pipes of Pan,
Breathed mid their mingled music and perfume,
Endymion.
The silvery leaves that rustled in the light
Sent their winged shadows o’er his cheek entranced;
The constellations wandered down the night,
And whispered to the dew-drops where they danced
Endymion.
Lo! there he slept; and all his flock at will
Went, star-like, down the meadow’s azure mist:—
What wonder that pale Dian, with a thrill,
Breathed on his lips her sudden love and kist
Endymion!