Mythology & Folklore

Psyche Wafted by Zephyrus

by Elizabeth Barrett Browning 1806–1861

Translated by Elizabeth Barrett Browning · From The Poetical Works of Elizabeth Barrett Browning, Volume 5

Mythology & Folklore

While Psyche wept upon the rock forsaken,
Alone, despairing, dreading, — gradually
By Zephyrus she was enwrapt and taken
Still trembling, — like the lilies planted high, —
Through all her fair white limbs. Her vesture spread,
Her very bosom eddying with surprise, —
He drew her slowly from the mountain-head,
And bore her down the valleys with wet eyes,
And laid her in the lap of a green dell
As soft with grass and flowers as any nest,
With trees beside her, and a limpid well:
Yet Love was not far off from all that Rest.

✦ ✦ ✦

From Apuleius, Metamorphoses, Book IV.

MLA

Browning, Elizabeth Barrett. “Psyche Wafted by Zephyrus.” Translated by Elizabeth Barrett Browning. Poetry Codex, poetrycodex.com/poem/browning_e/375/.

Chicago

Browning, Elizabeth Barrett. “Psyche Wafted by Zephyrus.” Translated by Elizabeth Barrett Browning. Poetry Codex. https://poetrycodex.com/poem/browning_e/375/.

Read this poem with the Codex →

More by Elizabeth Barrett Browning