The God of the Gardens, I

Come not! Away! Let not one step be stayed!
Insidious pillager, I fancy you
Would steal the grapes, mad-apples, olives, too,
Which the sun ripens in the orchard's shade.

I watch. A shepherd once with hedge-bill blade
Carved me from fig-tree trunk Ægina knew;
Laugh, but consider how Priapus grew,
And know none can his fierce revenge evade.

Of old, to seamen dear, on galley's beak
With ruddy glow I stood, and joyed to speak
To laughter-sparkling or foam-crested waves;

And now the fruits and herbs I keep watch o'er,
To shield this garden from marauding knaves...
The smiling Cyclades I'll ne'er see more.