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A poem by Rennell Rodd

At Lanuvium

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Title:     At Lanuvium
Author: Rennell Rodd [More Titles by Rodd]

"Festo quid potius die
Neptuni faciam.
"

HORACE, Odes, iii. 28.

 

Spring grew to perfect summer in one day,
And we lay there among the vines, to gaze
Where Circe's isle floats purple, far away
Above the golden haze:

And on our ears there seemed to rise and fall
The burden of an old world song we knew,
That sang, "To-day is Neptune's festival,
And we, what shall we do?"

Go down brown-armed Campagna maid of mine,
And bring again the earthen jar that lies
With three years' dust above the mellow wine;
And while the swift day dies,

You first shall sing a song of waters blue,
Paphos and Cnidos in the summer seas,
And one who guides her swan-drawn chariot through
The white-shored Cyclades;

And I will take the second turn of song,
Of floating tresses in the foam and surge
Where Nereid maids about the sea-god throng;
And night shall have her dirge.

1881.


[The end]
Rennell Rodd's poem: At Lanuvium

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