Versos English Charles Stuart Calverley From Theocritus.

English poem

From Theocritus.

by (1831–1884)

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IDYLL. VII. SCARCE midway were we yet, nor yet descried The stone that hides what once was Brasidas: When there drew near a wayfarer from Crete, Young Lycidas, the Muses’ votary. The horned herd was his care: a glance might tell So much: for every inch a herdsman he. Slung o’er his shoulder was a ruddy hide Torn from a he-goat, shaggy, tangle-haired, That reeked of rennet yet: a broad belt clasped A patched cloak round his breast, and for a staff A gnarled wild-olive bough his right hand bore. Soon with a quiet smile he spoke—his eye Twinkled, and laughter sat upon his lip: “And whither ploddest thou thy weary way Beneath the noontide sun, Simichides? For now the lizard sleeps upon the wall, The crested lark hath closed his wandering wing. Speed’st thou, a bidd’n guest, to some reveller’s board? Or townwards, to the treading of the grape? For lo! recoiling from thy hurrying feet The pavement-stones ring out right merrily.”