Ode to Psyche

O Goddess! hear these tuneless numbers, wrung
     By sweet enforcement and remembrance dear,
And pardon that thy secrets should be sung
     Even into thine own soft-conched ear:
Surely I dreamt today, or did I see
     The winged Psyche with awakened eyes?
I wandered in a forest thoughtlessly,
     And, on the sudden, fainting with surprise,
Saw two fair creatures, couched side by side
     In deepest grass, beneath the whisp'ring roof
     Of leaves and trembled blossoms, where there ran
               A brooklet, scarce espied:

'Mid hushed, cool-rooted flowers, fragrant-eyed,
     Blue, silver-white, and budded Tyrian,
They lay calm-breathing on the bedded grass;
     Their arms embraced, and their pinions too;
     Their lips touched not, but had not bade adieu,
As if disjoined by soft-handed slumber,
And ready still past kisses to outnumber
     At tender eye-dawn of aurorean love:
               The winged boy I knew;
But who wast thou, O happy, happy dove?
               His Psyche true!

O latest born and loveliest vision far
     Of all Olympus' faded hierarchy!
Fairer than Phoebe's sapphire-regioned star,
     Or Vesper, amorous glow-worm of the sky;
Fairer than these, though temple thou hast none,
               Nor altar heaped with flowers;
Nor virgin-choir to make delicious moan
               Upon the midnight hours;
No voice, no lute, no pipe, no incense sweet
     From chain-swung censer teeming;
No shrine, no grove, no oracle, no heat
     Of pale-mouthed prophet dreaming.

O brightest! though too late for antique vows,
     Too, too late for the fond believing lyre,
When holy were the haunted forest boughs,
     Holy the air, the water, and the fire;
Yet even in these days so far retired
     From happy pieties, thy lucent fans,
     Fluttering among the faint Olympians,
I see, and sing, by my own eyes inspired.
So let me be thy choir, and make a moan
               Upon the midnight hours;
Thy voice, thy lute, thy pipe, thy incense sweet
     From swinged censer teeming;
Thy shrine, thy grove, thy oracle, thy heat
     Of pale-mouthed prophet dreaming.

Yes, I will be thy priest, and build a fane
     In some untrodden region of my mind,
Where branched thoughts, new grown with pleasant pain,
     Instead of pines shall murmur in the wind:
Far, far around shall those dark-clustered trees
     Fledge the wild-ridged mountains steep by steep;
And there by zephyrs, streams, and birds, and bees,
     The moss-lain dryads shall be lulled to sleep;
And in the midst of this wide quietness
A rosy sanctuary will I dress
With the wreathed trellis of a working brain,
     With buds, and bells, and stars without a name,
With all the gardener Fancy e'er could feign,
     Who breeding flowers, will never breed the same:
And there shall be for thee all soft delight
     That shadowy thought can win,
A bright torch, and a casement ope at night,
     To let the warm Love in!

Footnotes

  1. The idea of a bright torch and an open casement at night symbolizes an invitation for warm love to enter the sanctuary.

    — Allegra Keys, Owl Eyes Editor
  2. The reference to Psyche as the "brightest" and the speaker's commitment to building a mental sanctuary serves as a metaphor for the idealization of beauty and the creation of a sacred space in the mind.

    — Allegra Keys, Owl Eyes Editor
  3. Despite lacking the conventional attributes associated with worship and devotion, Psyche is extolled for her unmatched beauty and grace.

    — Allegra Keys, Owl Eyes Editor
  4. The speaker recognizes Cupid (the winged boy) but is curious about the identity of the female figure, addressing her as Psyche, Cupid's true love.

    — Allegra Keys, Owl Eyes Editor
  5. The speaker describes the enchanting scene in the forest where he unexpectedly sees two beautiful beings (the Greek mythological beings, Psyche and Cupid) lying side by side in the grass.

    — Allegra Keys, Owl Eyes Editor
  6. The poem is written in iambic pentameter and follows an ABABCDCDEE rhyme scheme, characteristic of a Shakespearean sonnet, although it doesn't strictly adhere to the traditional structure as it’s much longer.

    — Allegra Keys, Owl Eyes Editor