Scene 4

Transformation from the Sea-shore to the Bower of Ariadne.

Song.

Through the air, through the air,

We are borne; from our hair

A spicy odour is shaken :

We sing as we sail;

The strong trees quail,

And the dreaming doves awaken.

The pale screech-owl

That, cheek by jowl,

Goes ravening with night,

Thinks day has come,

And hurries home

Half-starved, to shun the light.

An eagle above us screams;

But a star blows a silver horn,

And a faint far echo floats

From the depths of the lakes, and the streams

Warble the shadowy notes.

A young lark thinks it morn,

And sings through our flying crowd,

That seems to his eager soul

Like a low-hung dawning cloud.

The bells of midnight toll;

The night-flowers tell the hour;

And the stately planets roll,

As we fly to our lady's bower.

ON TO SCENE FIVE