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Ye are baffled, Oh! Dead); Lost hopes, lost hearts, lost loves, Hollow-eyed, hollow-cheeked are your droves, I drew my sword and ye vanished. Out of the dark I return And the dust of desire; My ears are still filled with the shrieks Of the pitiful Dead and my cheeks Still pale with the paleness of Hades. Out of the dark I return For the day, for the deed; And now to Apollo, the slayer, I stand and utter a prayer Humbly, first making obeisance. STORIES IN VERSE. Adeimantus. The dream of Adeimantus Who carved for a Grecian Prince Statues of perfect marble, Fairer than all things since, Wonderful, white, and gracious Like lotus flowers on a mere, Or phantoms born of the moonbeam, Beyond all praise but a tear. The dream of Adeimantus (As he lay upon his bed), Wonderful, white, and gracious, And this was the word it said. "Arise! oh! Adeimantus, The breath of the dawn blows chill, The stars begin to fade Ere the first ray strikes the sill. Arise! oh! Adeimantus For here is work to your hand, If the fingers fashion the dream As the soul can understand." He rose from his troubled bed Ere the dream had faded away, And he said, "I will fashion the dream As the potter fashions the clay." He said in his great heart's vanity, "I will fashion a wondrous thing To stand in a palace of onyx And blind the eyes of a king." He said in the pride of his soul As the birds began to sing, "I will surely take no rest Till I fashion this wondrous thing. I will swear an oath to eschew The white wine and the red, To eat no delicate meats Nor break the fair, white bread. I will not walk in the city But labour here alone In the dew and the dusk and the flush Till the vision smiles from the stone." Six days he wrought at the marble, But cunning had left his hand, And his fingers would not fashion What his soul could understand. Six days he fasted and travailed, Hard was the watch to keep, So the chisel fell from his fingers And he sank with a sob to sleep. But a vision came to his slumber Beautiful as before, Floating in with the moonbeam Gliding over the floor. It floated in with the moonbeam And stood beside his bed, Wond
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