Arts & Sciences
Poscimur (From Horace)
From Ban and Arriere Ban (1894)
HUSH, for they call! If in the shade,
My lute, we twain have idly strayed,
And song for many a season made,
Once more reply;
Once more we’ll play as we have played,
My lute and I!
Roman the song: the strain you know,
The Lesbian wrought it long ago.
Now singing as he charged the foe,
Now in the bay,
Where safe in the shore-water’s flow
His galleys lay.
So sang he Bacchus and the Nine,
And Venus and her boy divine,
And Lycus of the dusky eyne,
The dusky hair;
So shalt thou sing, ah, Lute of mine,
Of all things fair;
Apollo’s glory! Sounding shell,
Thou lute, to Jove desirable,
When soft thine accents sigh and swell
At festival—
Delight more dear than words can tell,
Attend my call!
Codex Note
After Horace.
Cite this poem
MLA
Lang, Andrew. “Poscimur (From Horace).” Poetry Codex, poetrycodex.com/poem/lang/267/.
Chicago
Lang, Andrew. “Poscimur (From Horace).” Poetry Codex. https://poetrycodex.com/poem/lang/267/.
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