I.
Arethusa
arose
From
her
couch
of
snows
In
the
Acroceraunian
mountains,--
From
cloud
and
from
crag,
With
many
a
jag,
Shepherding
her
bright
fountains.
She
leapt
down
the
rocks,
With
her
rainbow
locks
Streaming
among
the
streams;--
Her
steps
paved
with
green
The
downward
ravine
Which
slopes
to
the
western
gleams;
And
gliding
and
springing
She
went,
ever
singing,
In
murmurs
as
soft
as
sleep;
The
Earth
seemed
to
love
her,
And
Heaven
smiled
above
her,
As
she
lingered
towards
the
deep.
II.
Then
Alpheus
bold,
On
his
glacier
cold,
With
his
trident
the
mountains
strook;
And
opened
a
chasm
In
the
rocks—with
the
spasm
All
Erymanthus
shook.
And
the
black
south
wind
It
unsealed
behind
The
urns
of
the
silent
snow,
And
earthquake
and
thunder
Did
rend
in
sunder
The
bars
of
the
springs
below.
And
the
beard
and
the
hair
Of
the
River-god
were
Seen
through
the
torrent’s
sweep,
As
he
followed
the
light
Of
the
fleet
nymph’s
flight
To
the
brink
of
the
Dorian
deep.
III.
'Oh,
save
me!
Oh,
guide
me!
And
bid
the
deep
hide
me,
For
he
grasps
me
now
by
the
hair!'
The
loud
Ocean
heard,
To
its
blue
depth
stirred,
And
divided
at
her
prayer;
And
under
the
water
The
Earth’s
white
daughter
Fled
like
a
sunny
beam;
Behind
her
descended
Her
billows,
unblended
With
the
brackish
Dorian
stream:—
Like
a
gloomy
stain
On
the
emerald
main
Alpheus
rushed
behind,--
As
an
eagle
pursuing
A
dove
to
its
ruin
Down
the
streams
of
the
cloudy
wind.
IV.
Under
the
bowers
Where
the
Ocean
Powers
Sit
on
their
pearled
thrones;
Through
the
coral
woods
Of
the
weltering
floods,
Over
heaps
of
unvalued
stones;
Through
the
dim
beams
Which
amid
the
streams
Weave
a
network
of
coloured
light;
And
under
the
caves,
Where
the
shadowy
waves
Are
as
green
as
the
forest’s
night:--
Outspeeding
the
shark,
And
the
sword-fish
dark,
Under
the
Ocean’s
foam,
And
up
through
the
rifts
Of
the
mountain
clifts
They
passed
to
their
Dorian
home.
V.
And
now
from
their
fountains
In
Enna’s
mountains,
Down
one
vale
where
the
morning
basks,
Like
friends
once
parted
Grown
single-hearted,
They
ply
their
watery
tasks.
At
sunrise
they
leap
From
their
cradles
steep
In
the
cave
of
the
shelving
hill;
At
noontide
they
flow
Through
the
woods
below
And
the
meadows
of
asphodel;
And
at
night
they
sleep
In
the
rocking
deep
Beneath
the
Ortygian
shore;--
Like
spirits
that
lie
In
the
azure
sky
When
they
love
but
live
no
more.
