Echo And Narcissus

"That beauty that burns within thee
 Is like a golden flame.
 Turn to me now and love me
 With the power no bond can tame!"
Thus spake Echo to Narcissus, hoping to hear the same.

But Narcissus never knew her;
He knew only his delight
In pride's and not love's whisper-
The burst of beauty bright,
Not the tender one of lovers loving each other in the night.

So Echo pined herself to death;
Her voice became a sound
That whispered without a breath
Echoing round and round,
So that someone's last-spoken words forever would resound.

But Narcissus had his guilt;
The gods, they found their way;
For pride that is all blade without a hilt
Cuts others every day;
For that, the gods sent Narcissus's heart hopelessly away.

He found himself one morning
Looking deep into a pool,
And love within him without warning
Took his heart into the cool
Reflection that he prized, and loved as a bright jewel.

"Speak to me, sweet creature!
Tell me all thou art!
Perfect and fair in feature,
Thou hast won my heart!"
So Narcissus spoke, with his self-love tearing him apart.

But his reflection never said
A word, for it had no voice.
Like Echo, he bowed his head
To a fate in which he had no choice:
He pined away there, kneeling and looking at turquoise.

And he echoed Echo's fate:
His heart driven to slaughter,
By self-love and by gods' hate,
And ignorance of fairy-daughter,
He changed from human- into a flower that still by the water

Drops its head as though the air
Hangs heavy all the time,
To gaze upon beauty rare
And, to itself, sublime-
The narcissus, like its bearer, finds in itself love's rhyme