"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...BROTHERHOOD by GEORGIA DOUGLAS JOHNSON WINTER GARDEN THEATRE by EDGAR LEE MASTERS DEATH'S JEST-BOOK: SAILORS' [OR MARINERS'] SONG by THOMAS LOVELL BEDDOES CALMNESS OF THE SUBLIME by PHILIP JAMES BAILEY BATTALION IN REST by EDMUND CHARLES BLUNDEN |