Song + 

III + 

Circe’s Cup + 

Th’ Ithacan discreet, + 

And all his storm-tossed fleet, + 

Far o’er the ocean wave + 

The winds of heaven drave⁠— + 

Drave to the mystic isle, + 

Where dwelleth in her guile + 

That fair and faithless one, + 

The daughter of the Sun. + 

There for the stranger crew + 

With cunning spells she knew + 

To mix th’ enchanted cup. + 

For whoso drinks it up, + 

Must suffer hideous change + 

To monstrous shapes and strange. + 

One like a boar appears; + 

This his huge form uprears, + 

Mighty in bulk and limb⁠— + 

An Afric lion⁠—grim + 

With claw and fang. Confessed + 

A wolf, this, sore distressed + 

When he would weep, doth howl; + 

And, strangely tame, these prowl + 

The Indian tiger’s mates. + 

And though in such sore straits, + 

The pity of the god + 

Who bears the mystic rod + 

Had power the chieftain brave + 

From her fell arts to save; + 

His comrades, unrestrained, + 

The fatal goblet drained. + 

All now with low-bent head, + 

Like swine, on acorns fed; + 

Man’s speech and form were reft, + 

No human feature left; + 

But steadfast still, the mind, + 

Unaltered, unresigned, + 

The monstrous change bewailed. + 

How little, then, availed + 

The potencies of ill! + 

These herbs, this baneful skill, + 

May change each outward part, + 

But cannot touch the heart. + 

In its true home, deep-set, + 

Man’s spirit liveth yet. + 

Those poisons are more fell, + 

More potent to expel + 

Man from his high estate, + 

Which subtly penetrate, + 

And leave the body whole, + 

But deep infect the soul. + 