Page:The Greek bucolic poets (1912).djvu/183



come, dear heart; thou’rt come after two days and nights, albeit one will turn a lover gray. As spring is sweeter than winter, and pippin than damson-plum; as mother-ewe is shaggier than her lambkin, and maiden more to be desired than a thrice-wed wife; as the fawn is nimbler-footed than the calf, and the nightingale clearest-tongued of all the winged songsters; so am I gladded above all at the sight of thee, and run to thee as a wayfarer runneth to the shady oak when the sun is burning hot. And ’tis O that equal Loves might inspire thee and me, and we become this song and saying unto all them that follow after:—

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