From Aha

From Aha the beginning of the Poem
Diverse editions p. 9f or 41f

Olympas

Master, ere the ruby Dawn
Gild the dew of leaf and lawn,
Bidding the petals to unclose
Of heaven's imperishable rose,
Brave heralds, banners flung afar
Of the lone and secret star,
I come to greet thee. Here I bow
To earth this consecrated a brow!
As a lover woes the Moon
Aching in a silver swoon,
I reach my lips towards thy shoon, b
Mendicant c of the mystic boon! d

Marsyas

  What wilt thou?

Olympas

Let mine Angel say!
"Utterly to be rapt away!"

Marsyas

How, whence, and whither?

Olympas

"By my kiss
From that abode to this - to this!"

Marsyas

Thou hast no wings. But see
An eagle sweeping from the Byss_a  
Where God stands. Let him ravish thee,
And bear thee to a boundless bliss!

Olympas

How should I call him? How beseech?_b

Marsyas

Silence is lovelier than Speech.
Only on a windless tree
Falls the dew, Felicity!
One ripple on the water mars_c
The magic mirror of the Stars.

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     a consecrated: "initiated," "sacred," and such like.

     b shoon: might be a substantive made out of the verb: "to shoo", i.e., to use a cry to drive birds and the like away.

     c Mendicant: like a beggar, a begging friar in sacred tradition.

     d boon: something very good.

     a Byss: must be a diminutive of "Abyss": "a wide open space," "a pit."

     b beseech: "to pray," "to beg," and the like.

     c mars: "to mar" means "to spoil," "to destroy."

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