"IF BUT the Gods, of their mercy, Would let me return ere I die, To drink of the water of Dirce -- On the cool sprinkled margin to lie! "Yes, I drank of the Marcian waters, Of Bandusia's song-haunted spring; But not though Mnemosyne's daughters The crystal of Helicon bring -- "Not they, not the charm-weaving Circe, Could make me forget or forego, -- I was used to the water of Dirce, I long for it, thirst for it so! "The snows of Cithaeron have chilled it -- I shall cease from this fever and pain, If but the Gods have so willed it I taste that wild sweetness again!" Then answered the Gods, of their mercy, "We give thee thy thirst and thy love, But seek not the water of Dirce -- For thy Youth was the sweetness thereof." | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...LACHIN Y GAIR by GEORGE GORDON BYRON THE NEW INN: A VISION OF BEAUTY by BEN JONSON THE AGED LOVER RENOUNCETH LOVE by THOMAS VAUX THE COMPLAINT OF THE FAIR ARMOURESS by FRANCOIS VILLON KEEPERS OF THE SUN by DOROTHY P. ALBAUGH TO A DOG by ANNA LETITIA BARBAULD |