Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, ed. Poems of Places: An Anthology in 31 Volumes.
Italy: Vols. XI–XIII. 1876–79. | | | | Syracuse | | Syracuse | | Homer (fl. 850 B.C.) |
| | (From The Odyssey, Book V) Translated by W. C. Bryant
BUT when he reached that island, far away, | |
| Forth from the dark-blue ocean-swell he stepped | |
| Upon the sea-beach, walking till he came | |
| To the vast cave in which the bright-haired nymph | |
| Made her abode. He found the nymph within; | 5 |
| A fire blazed brightly on the hearth, and far | |
| Was wafted o’er the isle the fragrant smoke | |
| Of cloven cedar, burning in the flame, | |
| And cypress-wood. Meanwhile, in her recess, | |
| She sweetly sang, as busily she threw | 10 |
| The golden shuttle through the web she wove. | |
| And all about the grotto alders grew, | |
| And poplars, and sweet-smelling cypresses. | |
| In a green forest, high among whose boughs | |
| Birds of broad wing, wood-owls, and falcons built | 15 |
| Their nests, and crows, with voices sounding far, | |
| All haunting for their food the ocean-side, | |
| A vine, with downy leaves and clustering grapes, | |
| Crept over all the cavern rock. Four springs | |
| Poured forth their glittering waters in a row, | 20 |
| And here and there went wandering side by side. | |
| Around were meadows of soft green, o’ergrown | |
| With violets and parsley. ’T was a spot | |
| Where even an immortal might awhile | |
| Linger, and gaze with wonder and delight. | 25 | | | |
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