The Naked Goddess

Arcane danze     Dimmortal piede i ruinosi gioghi     Scossero e lardue selve (oggi romito     Nido de vend).     - LEOPARDI.     Through the country to the town     Ran a rumour and renown,     That a woman grand and tall,     Swift of foot, and therewithal     Naked as a lily gleaming,     Had been seen by eyes not dreaming,     Darting down far forest glades,     Flashing sunshine through the shades.     With this rumours swelling word     All the city buzzed and stirred;     Solemn senators conferred;     Priest, astrologer, and mage,     Subtle sophist, bard, and sage,     Brought their wisdom, lore, and wit,     To expound or riddle it:     Last a porter ventured We     Might go out ourselves to see.     Thus, upon a summer morn,     Lo the city all forlorn;     Every house and street and square     In the sunshine still and bare,     Every galley left to sway     Silent in the glittering bay;     All the people swarming out,     Young and old a joyous rout,     Rich and poor, far-streaming through     Fields and meadows dark with dew,     Crowd on crowd, and throng on throng;     Chatter, laughter, jest, and song     Deafened all the singing birds,     Wildered sober grazing herds.     Up the hillside gainst the sun,     Where the forest outskirts run;     On along the level high,     Where the azure of the sky,     And the ruddy morning sheen,     Drop in fragments through the treen     Where the sward surrounds the brake     With a lucid, glassy lake,     Where the ample glades extend     Until clouds and foliage blend;     Where whoever turneth may     See the city and the bay,     And, beyond, the broad sea bright,     League on league of slanting light;     Where the moist blue shadows sleep     In the sacred forest deep.     Suddenly the foremost pause,     Ere the rear discern a cause;     Loiterers press up row on row,     All the mass heaves to and fro;     All seem murmuring in one strain,     All seem hearkening fixed and fain     Silence, and the lifted light     Of countless faces gazing white.     Four broad beech-trees, great of bole,     Crowned the green, smooth-swelling knoll;     There She leant, the glorious form     Dazzling with its beauty warm,     Naked as the sun of noon,     Naked as the midnight moon:     And around her, tame and mild,     All the forest creatures wild,     Lion, panther, kid, and fawn,     Eagle, hawk, and dove, all drawn     By the magic of her splendour,     By her great voice, rich and tender,     Whereof every beast and bird     Understood each tone and word,     While she fondled and carest,     Playing freaks of joyous zest.     Suddenly the lion stood,     Turned and saw the multitude,     Swelled his mighty front in ire,     Roared the roar of raging fire:     Then She turned, the living light,     Sprang erect, grew up in height,     Smote them with the flash and blaze     Of her terrible, swift gaze;     A divine, flushed, throbbing form,     Dreadfuller than blackest storm.     All the forest creatures cowered,     Trembling, moaning, overpowered;     All the simple folk who saw     Sank upon their knees in awe     Of this Goddess, fierce and splendid,     Whom they witless had offended;     And they murmured out faint prayers,     Inarticulate. despairs,     Till her haught and angry mien     Grew more gentle and serene.     Stood the high priest forth, and went     Halfway up the green ascent;     There began a preachment long     Of the great and grievous wrong     She unto her own soul wrought,     In thus living without thought     Of the gods who sain and save,     Of the life beyond the grave:     Living with the beasts that perish,     Far from all the rites that cherish     Hope and faith and holy love,     And appease the thrones above:     Full of unction pled the preacher;     Let her come and they would teach her     Spirit strangled in the mesh     Of the vile and sinful flesh,     How to gain the heavenly prize,     How grow meet for Paradise;     Penance, prayer, self sacrifice,     Fasting, cloistered solitude,     Mind uplifted, heart subdued;     Thus a Virgin, clean and chaste,     In the Bridegrooms arms embraced.     Vestal sisters hooded gown,     Straight and strait, of dismal brown,     Here he proffered, and laid down     On the green grass like a frown.     Then stood forth the old arch-sage,     Wrinkled more with thought than age:     What could worse afflict, deject     Any well-trained intellect     Than in savage forest seeing     Such a full-grown human being     With the beasts and birds at play,     Ignorant and wild as they?     Sciences and arts, by which     Man makes Natures poor life rich,     Dominates the world around,     Proves himself its King self-crowned,     She knew nothing of them, she     Knew not even what they be!     Body naked to the air,     And the reason just as bare!     Yet (since circumstance, that can     Hinder the full growth of man,     Cannot kill the seeds of worth     Innate in the Lord of Earth),     Yet she might be taught and brought     To full sovranty of thought,     Crowned with reasons glorious crown.     So he tendered and laid down,     Sober grey beside the brown,     Amplest philosophic gown.     Calm and proud she stood the while     With a certain wondering smile;     When the luminous sage was done     She began to speak as one     Using language not her own,     Simplest words in sweetest tone:     Poor old greybeards, worn and bent!     I do know not what they meant;     Only here and there a word     Reached my mind of all I heard;     Let some child come here, I may     Understand what it can say.     So two little children went,     Lingering up the green ascent,     Hand in hand, but grew the while     Bolder in her gentle smile;     When she kissed them they were free,     Joyous as at mothers knee.     Tell me, darlings, now, said she,     What they want to say to me.     Boy and girl then, nothing loth,     Sometimes one and sometimes both,     Prattled to her sitting there     Fondling with their soft young hair:     Dear kind lady, do you stay     Here with always holiday?     Do you sleep among the trees     People want you, if you please,     To put on your dress and come     With us to the City home;     Live with us and be our friend     Oh, such pleasant times well spend! . . .     But if you cant come away,     Will you let us stop and play     With you and all these happy things     With hair and horns and shining wings?     She arose and went half down,     Took the vestal sisters gown,.     Tried it on, burst through its shroud,     As the sun burns through a cloud:     Flung it from her split and rent;     Said: This cerement sad was meant     For some creature stunted, thin,     Breastless, blighted, bones and skin.     Then the sages robe she tried,     Muffling in its long folds wide     All her lithe and glorious grace:     I should stumble every pace!     This big bag was meant to hold     Some poor sluggard fat and old,     Limping, shuffling wearily,     With a form not fit to see!     So she flung it off again     With a gesture of disdain.     Naked as the midnight moon,     Naked as the sun of noon,     Burning too intensely bright,     Clothed in its own dazzling light;     Seen less thus than in the shroud     Of morning mist or evening cloud;     She stood terrible and proud     Oer the pallid quivering crowd.     At a gesture ere they wist,     Perched a falcon on her wrist,     And she whispered to the bird     Something it alone there heard;     Then she threw it off: when thrown     Straight it rose as falls a stone,     Arrow-swift on high, on high,     Till a mere speck in the sky;     Then it circled round and round,     Till, as if the prey were found,     Forth it darted on its quest     Straight away into the West. . . .     Every eye that watched its flight     Felt a sideward flash of light,     All were for a moment dazed,     Then around intently gazed     What had passed them?        Where was She,     The offended deity?     Oer the city, oer the bay,     They beheld her melt away,     Melt away beyond their quest     Through the regions of the west;     While the eagle screamed rauque ire,     And the lion roared like fire.     That same night both priest and sage     Died accursed in sombre rage.     Never more in wild wood green     Was that glorious Goddess seen,     Never more: and from that day     Evil hap and dull decay     Fell on countryside and town;     Life and vigour dwindled down;     Storms in Spring nipped bud and sprout,     Summer suns shed plague and drought,     Autumns store was crude and scant,     Winter snows beleaguered want;     Vines were black at vintage-tide,     Flocks and herds of murrain died;     Fishing boats came empty home,     Good ships foundered in the foam;     Haggard traders lost all heart     Wandering through the empty mart:     For the air hung thick with gloom,     Silence, and the sense of doom.     But those little children she     Had caressed so tenderly     Were betrothed that self-same night,     Grew up beautiful and bright,     Lovers through the years of play     Forward to their marriage-day.     Three long moons of bridal bliss     Overflowed them; after this,     With his bride and with a band     Of the noblest in the land,     Youths and maidens, wedded pairs     Scarcely older in lifes cares,     He took ship and sailed away     Westward Ho from out the bay:     Portioned from their native shrine     With the Sacred Fire divine,     They will cherish while they roam,     Quenchless mid the salt sea foam,     Till it burns beneath a dome     In some new and far-off home.     As they ventured more and more     In that ocean without shore,     And some hearts were growing cold     At the emprise all too bold,     It is said a falcon came     Down the void blue swift as flame;     Every sunset came to rest     On the prows high curving crest,     Every sunrise rose from rest     Flying forth into the west;     And they followed, faint no more,     Through that ocean without shore.     Three moons crescent fill and wane     Oer the solitary main,     When behold a green shore smile:     It was that Atlantic isle,     Drowned beneath the waves and years,     Whereof some faint shadow peers     Dubious through the modern stream     Of Platonic legend-dream.     High upon that green shore stood     She who left their native wood;     Glorious, and with solemn hand     Beckoned to them there to land.     Though She forthwith disappeared     As the wave-worn galley neared,     They knew well her presence still     Haunted stream and wood and hill.     There they landed, there grew great,     Founders of a mighty state     There the Sacred Fire divine     Burned within a wondrous shrine     Which Her statue glorified     Throughout many kingdoms wide.     There those children wore the crown     To their children handed down     Many and many a golden age     Blotted now from historys page;     Till the last of all the line     Leagued him with the other nine     Great Atlantic kings whose hosts     Ravaged all the Mid Sea coasts:     Then the whelming deluge rolled     Over all those regions old;     Thrice three thousand years before     Solon questioned Egypts lore.1