Stretched on a sunny bank he lay at rest, Ferns at his elbow, lilies round his knees, With sweet flesh patterned where the cool turf pressed, Flowerlike crept o'er with emerald aphides. Single he couched there, to his circling flocks Piping at times some happy shepherd's tune, Nude, with the warm wind in his golden locks, And arched with the blue Asian afternoon. Past him, gorse-purpled, to the distant coast Rolled the clear foothills. There his white-walled town, There, a blue band, the placid Euxine lay. Beyond, on fields of azure light embossed He watched from noon till dewy eve came down The summer clouds pile up and fade away. | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...FAIR HARVARD by GEORGE SANTAYANA SECOND BOOK OF AIRS: SONG 18 by THOMAS CAMPION PRECIOUS WORDS by EMILY DICKINSON VALENTINES TO MY MOTHER: 1876 by CHRISTINA GEORGINA ROSSETTI THE BALLAD OF DEAD LADIES by FRANCOIS VILLON A MODERN SAPPHO by MATTHEW ARNOLD |