Hoofs of Pegasus

<p><span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="Page_39" id="Page_39">[Pg 39]</SPAN></span></p> <h2>TO BOTTICELLI’S VENUS</h2> <div class="poetry-container"><div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> <span class="i0"><span class="bigfont">I</span>N the early dawning before the sun had risen</span> <span class="i0">The wind piped mournfully along the lonely sand,</span> <span class="i0">The sea lay desolate, sunless, desolate,</span> <span class="i0">There was no light upon the deep or light upon the land.</span></div> <div class="stanza"> <span class="i0">Before the sun had risen in the cold green twilight</span> <span class="i0">Came a Lady from the foam, a Lady wistful eyed,</span> <span class="i0">The crinkled waves beneath her feet ran eagerly before her,</span> <span class="i0">She drifted in from alien seas at the turn of the tide.</span></div> <div class="stanza"> <span class="i0">Light came into the world with her. I knelt before her beauty,</span> <span class="i0">Her pure and awful nakedness unaware of shame,</span> <span class="i0">Her slender fingers hiding the apple of her bosom,</span> <span class="i0">Her red gold hair unfilleted blown like a windy flame.</span></div> <div class="stanza"> <span class="i0">Softly blew the winds about her, softly fell the blossoms,</span> <span class="i0">But in her face was sorrow for the long years to be:</span> <span class="i0">The kiss beneath the olives, the anguish of betrayal,</span> <span class="i0">Her grief was for the wounds of Love, Our Lady of the Sea.</span></div> </div></div> <hr class="chap" /> <div style="break-after:column;"></div><br />