5. “Daughter,” the man replied, (his face was bright With the effulgent reflex of that light,) “The time shall come, by merciful Heaven willed, When these celestial omens shall be fulfilled, Our strife be closed and the nation purged of sin, And a pure and holier union shall begin; And a jarring race be drawn, throughout the land, Into new brotherhood by some strong hand; And the baneful glow and splendor of war shall fade In the whiter light of love, that, from sea to sea, Shall soften the rage of hosts in arms arrayed, And melt into share and shaft each battle-blade, And brighten the hopes of a people great and free. But, in the story told of a nation’s woes, Of the sacrifices made for a century’s fault, The fames of fallen heroes shall ever shine, Serene, and high, and crystalline as those Fair stars, which reappear in yonder vault; In the country’s heart their written names shall be, Like that of a single one in mine and thine.” MISCELLANEOUS POEMS. MISCELLANEOUS POEMS. ALECTRYÔN. Great Arês, whose tempestuous godhood found Delight in those thick-tangled solitudes Of Hebrus, watered tracts of rugged Thrace,— Great Arês, scouring the Odrysian wilds, There met Alectryôn, a Thracian boy, Stalwart beyond his years, and swift of foot To hunt from morn till eve the white-toothed boar. “What hero,” said the war-God, “joined his blood With that of Hæmian nymph, to make thy form So fair, thy soul so daring, and thy thews So lusty for the contest on the plains Wherein the fleet Odrysæ tame their steeds?” From that time forth the twain together chased The boar, or made their coursers cleave the breadth Of yellow Hebrus, and, through vales beyond, Drove the hot leopard foaming to his lair. And day by day Alectryôn dearer grew To the God’s restless spirit, till from Thrace He bore him, even to Olympos; there Before him set immortal food and wine, That fairer youth and lustier strength might serve His henchman; bade him bear his arms, and cleanse The crimsoned burnish of his brazen car: So dwelt the Thracian youth among the Gods.