By the way, I found this version on bartleby.com (they have loads of poetry).
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| Helen of Troy by the English Pre-Raphaelite painter Evelyn De Morgan - 1898. |
THE western wind is blowing fair | |
| Across the dark Ægean sea, | |
| And at the secret marble stair | |
| My Tyrian galley waits for thee. | |
| Come down! the purple sail is spread, | 5 |
| The watchman sleeps within the town, | |
| O leave thy lily-flowered bed, | |
| O Lady mine come down, come down! | |
| She will not come, I know her well, | |
| Of lover’s vows she hath no care, | 10 |
| And little good a man can tell | |
| Of one so cruel and so fair. | |
| True love is but a woman’s toy, | |
| They never know the lover’s pain, | |
| And I who loved as loves a boy | 15 |
| Must love in vain, must love in vain. | |
| O noble pilot tell me true | |
| Is that the sheen of golden hair? | |
| Or is it but the tangled dew | |
| That binds the passion-flowers there? | 20 |
| Good sailor come and tell me now | |
| Is that my Lady’s lily hand? | |
| Or is it but the gleaming prow, | |
| Or is it but the silver sand? | |
| No! no! ’tis not the tangled dew, | 25 |
| ’Tis not the silver-fretted sand, | |
| It is my own dear Lady true | |
| With golden hair and lily hand! | |
| O noble pilot steer for Troy, | |
| Good sailor ply the labouring oar, | 30 |
| This is the Queen of life and joy | |
| Whom we must bear from Grecian shore! | |
| The waning sky grows faint and blue, | |
| It wants an hour still of day, | |
| Aboard! aboard! my gallant crew, | 35 |
| O Lady mine away! away! | |
| O noble pilot steer for Troy, | |
| Good sailor ply the labouring oar, | |
| O loved as only loves a boy! | |
| O loved for ever evermore! |
