Stasimon 5
[Episode]
For Orpheus widowed, an abiding debt.
MUSE.
To me he still must be—that know I well—
As one in death, who sees not. Where I dwell
He must not come, nor see his mother’s face.
Alone for ever, in a caverned place
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Of silver-veinèd earth, hid from men’s sight,
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A Man yet Spirit, he shall live in light:
As under far Pangaion Orpheus lies,
Priest of great light and worshipped of the wise.
Howbeit an easier anguish even to me
Falls than to Thetis in her azure sea;
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For her son too shall die; and sorrowing,
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First on the hills our band for thee shall sing,
Then for Achilles by the weeping wave.
Pallas could murder thee, but shall not save
Thy foe; too swift Apollo’s bolt shall fly.
O fleshly loves of sad mortality,
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O bitter motherhood of these that die,
She that hath wisdom will endure her doom,
The days of emptiness, the fruitless womb;
