Enceladus

by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

    Under Mount Etna he lies,
        It is slumber, it is not death;
    For he struggles at times to arise,
    And above him the lurid skies
        Are hot with his fiery breath.

    The crags are piled on his breast,
        The earth is heaped on his head;
    But the groans of his wild unrest,
    Though smothered and half suppressed,
        Are heard, and he is not dead.

    And the nations far away
        Are watching with eager eyes;
    They talk together and say,
    "To-morrow, perhaps to-day,
        Euceladus will arise!"

    And the old gods, the austere
        Oppressors in their strength,
    Stand aghast and white with fear
    At the ominous sounds they hear,
        And tremble, and mutter, "At length!"

    Ah me! for the land that is sown
        With the harvest of despair!
    Where the burning cinders, blown
    From the lips of the overthrown
        Enceladus, fill the air.

    Where ashes are heaped in drifts
        Over vineyard and field and town,
    Whenever he starts and lifts
    His head through the blackened rifts
        Of the crags that keep him down.

    See, see! the red light shines!
        'T is the glare of his awful eyes!
    And the storm-wind shouts through the pines
    Of Alps and of Apennines,
        "Enceladus, arise!"