SUGGESTED BY A HEAD OF ACHILLES IN SIR WILLIAM GELL’S POMPEII.
The swift Pelides from a Goddess’ loins,
Like lightning from a summer cloud was born;
Ambrosial youth incarnadined his limbs
With roseal lustre and Hebean bloom;
Yet in their marble smoothness lay enshrined
A Titan’s energy—and his large eyes,
That dreamed and languished like Endymion’s,
When, vine-like, round his neck the lucent arms
Of Lycomedes’ daughter were entwined,
Glowed like a pard’s in fight. A glossy wealth
Of sunny Apollonian tresses loosely rolled
Adown his ivory shoulders. In his breast
A fiery-blooded heart throbbed fiercely—now
In sorrow unappeased venting itself
Above his fallen friend; and now in ire
Unquenchable, that withered all his foes,
When vengeance called him to the ensanguined field.
The hero’s sword not only he could wield;
The heroic lyre he also strung, and oft
At eve, in his pavilion by the sea,
His melancholy spirit soothed with song.