Moon-Blossom.
Paris cried,
“Nireus, my comrade,
Nireus, my belovèd,
My friend of old!
Here we have forgiven
What my young man’s folly bred,
We feast as friends
In the violet fields.”
Rose-Flower.
Then he led Nireus
To the hall of feasting.
There they feasted
In the violet fields.
Three summer days and nights,
It seemed, they feasted,
Each summer day and night
Was ten years long.
Together.
Paris and the heroes
Cried to Nireus,
“We loved Helen,
When we were men.
Now we love her still
And we see her lonely,
Old, and haunted
By her lovers dead.
“Take to Helen
Gifts from her lovers,
In her old age find her
And give her these:
Beauty and peace
And our forgiveness,
And all our thanks
For what she was.”
Moon-Blossom.
As they ceased speaking
They faded from him,
The island faded,
Nireus was at sea.
He and his men
Were all grown old,
Thirty years
Had fallen on them.
Together.