A Prayer To Athena

Athena! I, whom love did once embolden

To worship in that temple which hath been

The crown of the world,—thy suppliant, O Queen,

Hear me again from this far shore, in olden

Days of thy glory thine. Thou who hast holden

Achilles by the hair, Wisdom serene,

Stand now by King and Counsellors, unseen

As in the dear dim dawn, by song made golden.

Athena! Queen of the Air, maiden divine,—

Of all things on the subject earth, most free,—

Guard with thy sovereign strength the faint new breath

Of freedom drawn in this loved land of thine,

Where for long years in fierce despite of thee

It has been strangled in the arms of death.