DAPHNIS AND CHLOE

EROS' ARROW

Every stone here rings, my Daphnis,
rocks chime paeans
the winds carved into them, rejoicing,
as the skies wrought our
souls from Nymphs' devotion and
the Muses' longing.

Swallows tune their songs to your
pipe, for 'tis the stars
that sing thro' your breath. Would
that I were a reed in
your instrument, that I may thrum
with your sweet music!
Would that you held my heart in your
hands, your gentle
fingers willing it to beat to the
rhythm of your own.

I have mastered your eyes, comely
youth! Their flamelets
of purest devotion, of constancy
and care dance in my own. 
Moonrays could not drown your
tawny orbs, for they hold
the Day Star.

My beacon would you be 'pon Earth's
darkest night. Enwrapped
in thy tender gaze I slumber 'neath
the oak, its caress dapples my skin,
warms my blood, cocoons my form.

Shall my life dim as the dying daylight?
The sinking orb's gold
stabs my being deeper each eventide,
rends this girl's heart of
fifteen Springs, for I shall be parted
from my own Sun,
from my Daphnis.

Sleepless, weeping, I know not why,
shall I await dawn's light.

© 2015 Lily's Verse

Lilium Candidum

Image: DAPHNIS AND CHLOE

Artist: Louis Hersent

Source: liveinternet.ru

DAPHNIS AND CHLOE

DRYAS'S SONG

I

Daphnis and Chloe, pretty foundlings,

in dreams your fathers beheld

a beautiful golden-haired cherub, 

as he your life paths stelled.

To this wing'd boy were you delivered

by Nymphs of the forest stream;

with the selfsame dart your forms he touched,

for this the gods fitting deemed.

Daphnis, he bade his master's goats tend,

Chloe, his great herds of sheep;

thus from childhood your fates he entwined,

duty's rewards shall you reap.

To the great God Pan obeisance pay,

all cherish who life sustain;

mountains and rivers, each bird and beast,

for all praise Nature's domain.

II

Hasten, Gaea's cherished children,

to yon verduous, glittering bay;

under a bower, blessings await you,

may Hesperus guide your way.

Skipping, sing a hymn to birdsong,

your voices blend with their trills;

wave upon wave of rapturous tune

shepherds' hearts with pleasure fills.

In baskets and tresses, dear Chloe,

Lesbos' bright treasures bear;

may the Nymphs your sacred mission bless,  

your steps guard with tend'rest care.

To the sea, your thanks speak, young Daphnis,

'pon the shore libations pour;

drink deep of Nature's abundant joys,

may great Pan your strength restore.

Chaplets for the goddesses fashion

from myrtle and blossoms bright;

jubilant cooing their glad welcome,

the turtledoves weave in flight.

Anon shall Zeus' favoured daughters

their grace bestow from on high;

'long radiant arcs shall their light descend,

may their bounty e'er be nigh.

© 2015 Lily's Verse

Lilium Candidum

Image: DAPHNIS AND CHLOE

Source: arttrans.com.ua

Artist: Pierre Cabanel

ANEMONE

Aphrodite's pulchritude exalt,
o beguiling earthly star,
'pon Elysium briny drops she rains,
Adonis mourns from afar.

Her deepest dolour your chalice shaped,
his life blood your petals stained,
Springtide's gossamer their hearts tinted,
goddess' breath their whorls veined.

Fragrant nectar your form anointed,
love's promise in your soul dwells, 
twilit drops this coronet fashioned,
each jewel Summer's hope spells.

With Her first rose shall the god appear,
for his dearest to sustain,
Each Winter shall he in Hades bide, 
for mighty Zeus so ordained.

Fortune's caprice, pray, do not bemoan,
daughter of the Anemoi,
soon shall his kisses her brow adorn,
her forlorn heart fill with joy.

Strings of every realm gladsome shall thrum,
as the gods their love renew,
divine fate Earth's rhythms shall echo,
that man Nature may construe.

© 2015 Lily's Verse

Lilium Candidum

Image: THE AWAKENING OF ADONIS
Source: imgscr.ru
Artist: John William Waterhouse

IMBOLC

Snowdrops fringe Brighid's path, 

faerie blooms gathered 

to greet the beloved daughter
of the Tuatha Dé Danann. 

Fairest Goddess of the hearth,
Bride of Earth,
Keeper of the Sacred Flame,
stokes her fire; 
her blessings of light, hope and
warmth sweep
across Winter's frozen domain.

Mighty Force, our spirits fertile
render! Awash in
your glow shall we be made
pure. Your brightest
blaze may we harvest, for our
own soul's flame
to rekindle, for its inert seeds
to cause to burgeon.

Life now quickens in Creation's
womb, yearning
to emerge from the Great Below.
The moon smiles
unseen in the crisp, clear blue,
for she perceives buds
stir within the barest branches.

Pave the path for Spring, 

Nature's every child! Within
and without, create fitting abodes
for Her treasures.
Soon shall Earth's strings quiver
with the music of birth,
of blossoming, of fruition.

© 2015 Lily's Verse

Lilium Candidum

Image: twitter.com

SWAN SONG

Bittersweet notes

swathe her quivering

nacred plumes, descend

to gilded garlands upon

the weeping waters.

Bittersweet notes

pearl into myriad droplets,

wreathe tremulous lilies, their

blushing cheeks cool o'er

the weeping waters.

Bittersweet notes

thread the Springtide breeze,

fragrant cadences the twilit

woodlands crown around 

the weeping waters.

Bittersweet notes

Swallowtails' wings stipple,

by zephyrs borne aloft

hover awhile above

the weeping waters.

Bittersweet notes 

meld with her fading 

breath, soft glissade as 

liquescent jewels into 

the weeping waters. 

Bittersweet notes

fringe recumbent leaves,

their pallid forms illumine,

ere they merge with

the weeping waters.

© 2015 Lily's Verse
Lilium Candidum

Image: jodimagri.blogspot.com

Artist: Bonnie Hamlin

GODDESS

Her anima you could not spatter
upon your canvas, nor its
journey trace upon parchment.
No earthly likeness could contain
its vastness, no tongue
conceived by man its undulating
silhouette explicate, nor brush,
nor quill its merging
planes and strands limn.

Instead, let your heartstrings quiver
with her tunes, her image
engrave upon the dome of your
spirit. She sways to the
rhythm of Life's first heartbeats,
your cold silences she would
suffuse with its sacred joy.

Behold how she melts stars in her
crucible, a shimmering poultice
prepares for your frozen heart!  
The choicest hues of her own skies
she would harvest, these to
splash upon your overcast vault.

Her grace shall succour as you
traverse rugged expanses,
when harsh Day's splinters sting
your flesh. She sees your boat in the
squall, your sojourns in
barren hills and lonely caverns,
your search for light, for lightness.

Your ragged breath she hears, as,
blind to time and place,
you labour thro' Winter winds 'neath
bitter skies. Your bleakest
spaces she knows, your waterless
springs whispers into flowing.

Speak to her of your dreams, that
she may place provision
in your path. By her sublime Light
shall you live when Life's tides
engulf your sun. As your earthly form
verdant, tellurian swathes
treads, shall your soul dance
upon her ætheric shores.

© 2015 Lily's Verse

Lilium Candidum

Image: The Spirit of the Rainbow 
Artist: Henry Mosler 
Source: nevsepic.com.ua

THE SIREN'S LAMENT 

What joy would time's passing
bring me, Muse of
the lower world, a divinity fated
to charm Life into
Death's maw with her chanting?

Elysian Light melds with Stygian
streams, this snare
of bittersweet notes sails thro'
the windless calm,
every breath a false promise of
mantic knowledge
pledged to stain great Poseidon's
realm ruby, my island
abode to festoon with morbid
mortal wreckage
tethered to its very air.

Chant I must, for in silence would
I perish. Yet, I yearn
for release, for the skies of my
dreams rain cascades
of blood, darkly glistening drops
devour visions my
secret heartsong weaves in the
unsullied radiance of
maidenly reveries.

My spirit journeys upon sparkling
Zephyrs to
fair Arcadian climes; there, love
resides and reigns;
my womb brings forth new life,
exults in its blossoming,
in Persephone's bounty.

Upon these craggy shores, my

form rides Fate's
capricious tides, at her bidding to
merge with these azure
waves, to strew my fruitless musings
into its darkest depths.

© 2015 Lily's Verse
Lilium Candidum

Image: THE SIREN
Source: www.nevsepic.com.ua
Artist: Edward John Poynter