Poetry Explorer- Classic Contemporary Poetry, ODES III, 13. TO THE FOUNTAIN OF BANDUSIA, by QUINTUS HORATIUS FLACCUS


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Classic and Contemporary Poetry

ODES III, 13. TO THE FOUNTAIN OF BANDUSIA, by                     Poet's Biography
First Line: Bandusia, stainless mirror of the sky!
Last Line: All babblingly thou fallest.
Alternate Author Name(s): Horace
Subject(s): Fountains


BANDUSIA, stainless mirror of the sky!
Thine is the flower-crown'd bowl, for thee shall die,
When dawns you sun, the kid;
Whose horns, half-seen, half-hid,

Challenge to dalliance or to strife -- in vain!
Soon must the firstling of the wild herd be slain,
And those cold springs of thine
With blood incarnadine.

Fierce glows the Dogstar, but his fiery beam
Toucheth not thee: still grateful thy cool stream
To labour-wearied ox,
Or wanderer from the flocks:

And henceforth thou shalt be a royal fountain:
My harp shall tell how from yon cavernous mountain,
Where the brown oak grows tallest,
All babblingly thou fallest.





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