Hymn and Offering of Terpander to Juno

I TOUCH the soil of Samos, where the queen
Of heaven is worshipt, and her priests ordain'd
Accept with gracious hands the gift of poor
And rich alike, and even frame the prayers
Of such as can not make them as beseems.
What priests upon the earth so bountiful?
What land so lovely? not even Rhodes, where Spring
Serenely smiles at Winter's languid wrath.
And where Apollo by the will of Zeus
Reigns the sole God.
Do thou with face benign
O Here! take this votive vest today,
Brought by no hand impure, and well besprent
With lustral water, which the grateful fumes
Of incense rest on, and will rest on long,
Until they reach thee at thy dome above.
Do thou, O Here, lay before the throne
Of Zeus all my petitions, all my prayers;
For well thou knowest 'twere audacious deed
In me without thy intercession, queen.
To plead before him for offence of mine.
Or favor at the Almighty Thunderer's hands.
Stand afar off, ye unbelieving men.
While I with reverence lay before the feet
Of Her& this my offering, from a woof
Which maids of Sidon labored to intwine
With gold and purple. Stand afar, profane.
Who doubt if they who on Olympus dwell.

Wear such thin raiment when they take delight
And clap their hands to see a Cloud and Wind
(Eurus or Boreas or Apeliotes)
Eun races on the summit in the snow.
I, happy in thy worship and thy care.
Seek not to vary this my happiness,
Nor would partake nor would impose a yoke.
I know that Love and Hymen when they meet
Are apt to quarrel; Hymen presses hard,
But Love with lighter wing eludes the grasp.
I shudder when I see a saffron robe
And torch before it. Here! I am weak;
Direct my steps, direct them to thy fane
As now, and back again as now, alone.