I

One morn before me were three figures seen,

      With bowed necks, and joined hands, side-faced;

And one behind the other stepp'd serene,

      In placid sandals, and in white robes graced;

They pass'd, like figures on a marble urn,

      When shifted round to see the other side;

            They came again; as when the urn once more

Is shifted round, the first seen shades return;

      And they were strange to me, as may betide

            With vases, to one deep in Phidian lore.