Poetical Remains of the Late Mrs Hemans/To Faunus
Book III. Ode XVIII.
TO FAUNUS.
Faunus! who lov'st the flying Nymphs to chase,
O let thy steps with genial influence tread
My sunny fields, and be thy fostering grace,
Left on my nursling groves, and borders shed.
If, at the mellow closing of the year,
A tender kid in sacrifice be thine;
Nor fail the liberal bowls to Venus dear;
Nor clouds of incense to thine antique shrine.
Joyous each flock in meadow herbage plays,
When the December feast returns to thee;
Calmly the ox along the pasture strays,
With festal villagers from toil set free.
Then from the wolf no more the lambs retreat,
Then shower the woods to thee their foliage round;
And the glad labourer triumphs that his feet
In triple dance have struck the hated ground.
Original of the foregoing.
Faune, Nympharum fugieutum amator,
Per meos fines et aprica rura
Lenis incedas, abeasque parvis
Æquus alumnis;
Si tener pleno cadit hædus anno,
Largo nec desunt, Veneris sodali,
Vina crateræ, vetus ara multo
Fumat odore.
Ludit herboso pecus omne campo,
Cum tibi Nonæ redeunt Decembres:
Festus in pratis vacat otioso
Cum bove pagus:
Inter audaces lupus errat agnos:
Spargit agrestes tibi silva frondes;
Gaudet invisam pepulisse fossor
Ter pede terram.