Poetical Remains of the Late Mrs Hemans/To the Fountain of Bandusia
Book III. Ode XIII.
TO THE FOUNTAIN OP BANDUSIA.
Oh, worthy fragrant gifts of flowers and wine,
Bandusian fount, than crystal far more bright!
To-morrow shall a sportive kid be thine,
Whose forehead swells with horns of infant might:
Ev'n now of love and war he dreams in vain,
Doomed with his blood thy gelid wave to stain.
Let the red Dog-star burn!—his scorching beam,
Fierce in resplendence shall molest not thee!
Still sheltered from his rage, thy banks, fair stream,
To the wild flock around thee wandering free,
And the tired oxen from the furrowed field;
The genial freshness of their breath shall yield.
And thou, bright Fount! ennobled and renowned,
Shall by thy poet's votive song be made;
Thou and the oak with deathless verdure crowned,
Whose boughs, a pendant canopy, o'ershade
Those hollow rocks, whence, murmuring many a tale,
Thy chiming waters pour upon the vale.
Original of the foregoing.
O fons Bandusiæ, splendidior vitro,
Dulci digne mero, non sine floribus,
Cras donaberis hædo;
Cui frons, turgida cornibus
Primis, et Venerem et prœlia destinat:
Frustra; nam gelidos inficiet tibi
Rubro sanguine rivos
Lascivi suboles gregis.
Te flagrantis atrox hora Caniculæ
Nescit tangere: tu frigus amabile
Fessis vomere tauris
Præbes, et pecori vago.
Fies nobilium tu quoque fontium,
Me dicente cavis impositam ilicem
Saxis, unde loquaces
Lymphæ desiliunt tuæ.