| Samuel Waddington, comp. The Sonnets of Europe. 1888. | | | | The Fountain | | By Bernardo Tasso (1493–1569) |
| | Translated by James Glassford, of Dougalston
FREE to thy flocks, O wandering shepherd, still | |
| Are my green banks, with herb and flower inlaid, | |
| And free the olive and the mulberry shade, | |
| Whose aged boughs adorn this lovely hill. | |
| But trouble not the crystal drops that spill | 5 |
| From my clear fountain, by the muses made | |
| Sacred, nor these my sparkling springs invade, | |
| Whose cooling draughts the heavenly dream instil. | |
| Here drinks Apollo, here the sister train, | |
| The loves unblemished, and the maidens chaste; | 10 |
| Perchance a milk-white swan of gentle brood:— | |
| If thou art ought but shepherd base and rude, | |
| Here may’st thou sing some sweetly moving strain, | |
| Then largely of my lucid waters taste. | | | | |
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