CHORUS: 
Joy!  I am mad with joy at your device. 465

ULYSSES: 
And then with you, my friends, and the old man,
We’ll load the hollow depth of our black ship,
And row with double strokes from this dread shore.

CHORUS: 
May I, as in libations to a God,
Share in the blinding him with the red brand? 470
I would have some communion in his death.

ULYSSES: 
Doubtless:  the brand is a great brand to hold.

CHORUS: 
Oh!  I would lift an hundred waggon-loads,
If like a wasp’s nest I could scoop the eye out
Of the detested Cyclops.

ULYSSES: 
Silence now! 475
Ye know the close device—­and when I call,
Look ye obey the masters of the craft. 
I will not save myself and leave behind
My comrades in the cave:  I might escape,
Having got clear from that obscure recess, 480
But ’twere unjust to leave in jeopardy
The dear companions who sailed here with me.

CHORUS: 
Come! who is first, that with his hand
Will urge down the burning brand
Through the lids, and quench and pierce 485
The Cyclops’ eye so fiery fierce?

SEMICHORUS 1 [SONG WITHIN]: 
Listen! listen! he is coming,
A most hideous discord humming. 
Drunken, museless, awkward, yelling,
Far along his rocky dwelling; 490
Let us with some comic spell
Teach the yet unteachable. 
By all means he must be blinded,
If my counsel be but minded.

SEMICHORUS 2: 
Happy thou made odorous 495
With the dew which sweet grapes weep,
To the village hastening thus,
Seek the vines that soothe to sleep;
Having first embraced thy friend,
Thou in luxury without end, 500
With the strings of yellow hair,
Of thy voluptuous leman fair,
Shalt sit playing on a bed!—­
Speak! what door is opened?

NOTES: 
495 thou cj.  Swinburne, Rossetti; those 1824;
    ‘the word is doubtful in B.’ (Locock).
500 Thou B.; There 1824.

CYCLOPS: 
Ha! ha! ha!  I’m full of wine, 505
Heavy with the joy divine,
With the young feast oversated;
Like a merchant’s vessel freighted
To the water’s edge, my crop
Is laden to the gullet’s top. 510
The fresh meadow grass of spring
Tempts me forth thus wandering
To my brothers on the mountains,
Who shall share the wine’s sweet fountains. 
Bring the cask, O stranger, bring! 515

NOTE: 
508 merchant’s 1824; merchant B.