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Classic and Contemporary Poetry


ODES I, 32: AD LYRAM by QUINTUS HORATIUS FLACCUS

First Line: THE MUSES CALL! NOW, SHELL, INSPIRE
Last Line: THE MUSES CALL!

THE Muses call! Now, Shell, inspire
If aught, to last this year and more,
Lightly, we two have wrought before; --
Come now, a song like his whose fire

First touched thee, from th' Aonian choir
Catching, thro' camp and tempest's roar,
The Muses' call, --

Singing the Queen of all desire,
Bacchus, and Cupid flutt'ring o'er,
And Lycus: thou, that Phoebus bore,
Dear to Jove's feast -- O aid me, Lyre!
The Muses call!



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