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EPIGRAM by ANTIPATER OF SIDON

First Line: HERE SLEEPS ANACREON, IN THIS IVIED SHADE
Last Line: AND VENUS CALLS THEE EVEN IN DEATH HER OWN!
Subject(s): ANACREON (582-485 B.C.); POETRY & POETS;

HERE sleeps Anacreon, in this ivied shade;
Here mute in death the Teian swan is laid.
Jold, cold the heart, which lived but to respire
All the voluptuous frenzy of desire!

And yet, O Bard! thou art not mute in death
Still, still we catch thy lyre's delicious breath
And still thy songs of soft Bathylla bloom,
Green as the ivy round the mouldering tomb!

Nor yet has death obscured thy fire of love,
Still, still it lights thee through th' Elysian grove;
And dreams are thine, that bless th' elect alone,
And Venus calls thee even in death her own!



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