Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, ed. Poems of Places: An Anthology in 31 Volumes.
Italy: Vols. XI–XIII. 1876–79. | | | | Syracuse | | Alpheus and Arethusa | | Moschus (fl. c. 150 B.C.) |
| | Translated by Robert Bland
FROM where his silver waters glide, | |
| Majestic, to the ocean-tide | |
| Through fair Olympia’s plain, | |
| Still his dark course Alpheus keeps | |
| Beneath the mantle of the deeps, | 5 |
| Nor mixes with the main. | |
| |
| To grace his distant bride, he pours | |
| The sand of Pisa’s sacred shores, | |
| And flowers that decked her grove; | |
| And, rising from the unconscious brine, | 10 |
| On Arethusa’s breast divine | |
| Receives the meed of love. | |
| |
| ’T is thus with soft bewitching skill | |
| The childish god deludes our will, | |
| And triumphs o’er our pride; | 15 |
| The mighty river owns his force, | |
| Bends to the sway his winding course, | |
| And dives beneath the tide. | | | | |
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