Edmund Clarence Stedman, ed. (1833–1908). A Victorian Anthology, 1837–1895. 1895.
Sir Edmund William Gosse 18491928Theocritus
Gosse-SiT
Make murmurous noises high in air;
The noon-day sunlight overwhelms
The brown cicalas basking there;
But here the shade is deep, and sweet
With new-mown grass and lentisk-shoots,
And far away the shepherds meet
With noisy fifes and flutes.
So now bring forth the rolls of song,
Mouth the rich cadences, nor fear
Your voice may do the poet wrong;
Lift up the chalice to our lips,—
Yet see, before we venture thus,
A stream of red libation drips
To great Theocritus.
And, as the honeyed metre flows,
Battos and Corydon, at play,
Will lose the syrinx, gain the rose;
Soft Amaryllis, too, will bind
Dark violets round her shining hair,
And in the fountain laugh to find
Her sun-browned face so fair.
Ah! foolish world, too sadly wise,
Why didst thou e’er let fade away
Those ancient, innocent ecstasies?
Along the glens, in checkered flight,
Hither to-day the nymphs shall flee,
And Pan forsake for our delight
The tomb of Helice.