‘Twas she!

The hand that flung my mother to the sea

Now pours me death!

Alas, great Hercules

Too long has plied the distaff at the knees

Of Omphale, spinning a thread of woe!

Was ever king of story driven so

By unrelenting Fate? Lo, round on round

The slow coils grip and choke—a mother drowned,

Her wrathful spirit rising from the dead—