24 JANUARY 1936, Page 16

Andromeda

LONELY the long watch and the water's

Music on the enormous shores, Lonely the isles and eastern stars, ' Vega, the Lyre, the Seven Sisters : Under her hair, her ivory hands, Cruel the cold Aegean sands, Out of the ocean come to rest Pearls on her fire-reflecting breast.

Lowering her lids through night she sees Towers, pavilions, balconies, Cities whose tender millions move Through the vast labyrinths of love, Each in his own peculiar pain Lost on the hot inhabited plain : Weeping with terror now she hears Wings on the slowly silvering airs Gentlier than any mortal power Ending the terrifying hour, Suddenly the warm arriving day Washing the wounds of night away.

FREDERIC PaoKosca.