Sails he onward through the islands siren-haunted,
Till the clashing gates of rock before him close.
Kindly Mother of the beasts and birds and flowers,
Gracious bringer of the barley and the grain,
Earth awakened feels thy sunlight and thy showers;
Great Demeter! Let us call thee not in vain;
Lead us safely from the seed-time to the threshing,
Past the harvest and the vineyard’s purple stain;
Let us see thy corn-pale hair the sunlight meshing,
When the sounding flails of autumn swing again.