Page:A Week on the Concord and Merrimack Rivers.djvu/246

240 And now, as you see, I bear letters from him. And he says that directly He'll make me free, But though he release me, His slave I will tarry with him. For why should I fly Over mountains and fields, And perch upon trees, Eating some wild thing? Now indeed I eat bread, Plucking it from the hands Of Anacreon himself; And he gives me to drink The wine which he tastes, And drinking, I dance, And shadow my master's Face with my wings; And, going to rest, On the lyre itself I sleep. That is all; get thee gone. Thou hast made me more talkative, Man, than a crow.

Love walking swiftly, With hyacinthine staff, Bade me to take a run with him; And hastening through swift torrents, And woody places, and over precipices, A water-snake stung me. And my heart leaped up to My mouth, and I should have fainted; But Love fanning my brows With his soft wings, said, Surely, thou art not able to love.