Corpus of Electronic Texts Edition

The New Helen (Author: Oscar Wilde)

p.717

1. 1] Where hast thou been since round the walls of Troy
   2] The sons of God fought in that great emprise?
   3] Why dost thou walk our common earth again?
   4] Hast thou forgotten that impassioned boy,
   5] His purple galley, and his Tyrian men,
   6] And treacherous Aphrodite's mocking eyes?
   7] For surely it was thou, who, like a star
   8] Hung in the silver silence of the night,
   9] Didst lure the Old World's chivalry and might
   10] Into the clamorous crimson waves of war!
2. 11] Or didst thou rule the fire-laden moon?
   12] In amorous Sidon was thy temple built
   13] Over the light and laughter of the sea?
   14] Where, behind lattice scarlet-wrought and gilt,
   15] Some brown-limbed girl did weave thee tapestry
   16] All through the waste and wearied hours of noon;
   17] Till her wan cheek with flame of passion burned,
   18] And she rose up the sea-washed lips to kiss
   19] Of some glad Cyprian sailor, safe returned
   20] From Calpé and the cliffs of Herakles!
3. 21] No! thou art Helen, and none other one!
   22] It was for thee that young Sarpedôn died,
   23] And Memnôn's manhood was untimely spent;
   24] It was for thee gold-crested Hector tried
   25] With Thetis' child that evil race to run,
   26] In the last year of thy beleaguerment;
   27] Ay! even now the glory of thy fame
   28] Burns in those fields of trampled asphodel,
   29] Where the high lords whom Ilion knew so well
   30] Clash ghostly shields, and call upon thy name.
4. 31] Where hast thou been? in that enchanted land
   32] Whose slumbering vales forlorn Calypso knew,
   33] Where never mower rose to greet the day
   34] But all unswathed the trammelling grasses grew,
   35] And the sad shepherd saw the tall corn stand
   36] Till summer's red had changed to withered grey?
   37] Didst thou lie there by some Lethæan stream
   38] Deep brooding on thine ancient memory,
   39] The crash of broken spears, the fiery gleam
   40] From shivered helm, the Grecian battle-cry?

---

p.718

5. 41] Nay, thou wert hidden in that hollow hill
   42] With one who is forgotten utterly,
   43] That discrowned Queen men call the Erycine;
   44] Hidden away that never mightst thou see
   45] The face of Her, before whose mouldering shrine
   46] To-day at Rome the silent nations kneel;
   47] Who gat from Love no joyous gladdening,
   48] But only Love's intolerable pain,
   49] Only a sword to pierce her heart in twain,
   50] Only the bitterness of child-bearing.
6. 51] The lotus-leaves which heal the wounds of Death
   52] Lie in thy hand; O, be thou kind to me,
   53] While yet I know the summer of my days;
   54] For hardly can my tremulous lips draw breath
   55] To fill the silver trumpet with thy praise,
   56] So bowed am I before thy mystery;
   57] So bowed and broken on Love's terrible wheel,
   58] That I have lost all hope and heart to sing,
   59] Yet care I not what ruin time may bring
   60] If in thy temple thou wilt let me kneel.
7. 61] Alas, alas, thou wilt not tarry here,
   62] But, like that bird, the servant of the sun,
   63] Who flies before the northwind and the night,
   64] So wilt thou fly our evil land and drear,
   65] Back to the tower of thine old delight,
   66] And the red lips of young Euphorion;
   67] Nor shall I ever see thy face again,
   68] But in this poisonous garden must I stay,
   69] Crowning my brows with the thorn-crown of pain,
   70] Till all my loveless life shall pass away.
8. 71] O Helen! Helen! Helen! yet a while,
   72] Yet for a little while, O, tarry here,
   73] Till the dawn cometh and the shadows flee!
   74] For in the gladsome sunlight of thy smile
   75] Of heaven or hell I have no thought or fear,
   76] Seeing I know no other god but thee:
   77] No other god save him, before whose feet
   78] In nets of gold the tired planets move,
   79] The incarnate spirit of spiritual love
   80] Who in thy body holds his joyous seat.
9. 81] Thou wert not born as common women are!
   82] But, girt with silver splendour of the foam,
   83] Didst from the depths of sapphire seas arise!
   84] And at thy coming some immortal star,

   ---

   p.719

   85] Bearded with flame, blazed in the Eastern skies,
   86] And waked the shepherds on thine island-home.
   87] Thou shalt not die: no asps of Egypt creep
   88] Close at thy heels to taint the delicate air;
   89] No sullen-blooming poppies stain thy hair,
   90] Those scarlet heralds of eternal sleep.
10. 91] Lily of love, pure and inviolate!
    92] Tower of ivory! red rose of fire!
    93] Thou hast come down our darkness to illume:
    94] For we, close-caught in the wide nets of Fate,
    95] Wearied with waiting for the World's Desire,
    96] Aimlessly wandered in the house of gloom,
    97] Aimlessly sought some slumberous anodyne
    98] For wasted lives, for lingering wretchedness,
    99] Till we beheld thy re-arisen shrine,
    100] And the white glory of thy loveliness.