THEOCRITUS (A Villanelle)

by: Oscar Wilde

      SINGER of Persephone!
      In the dim meadows desolate
      Dost thou remember Sicily?
       
      Still through the ivy flits the bee
      Where Amaryllis lies in state;
      O Singer of Persephone!
       
      Simætha calls on Hecate
      And hears the wild dogs at the gate;
      Dost thou remember Sicily?
       
      Still by the light and laughing sea
      Poor Polypheme bemoans his fate;
      O Singer of Persephone!
       
      And still in boyish rivalry
      Young Daphnis challenges his mate;
      Dost thou remember Sicily?
       
      Slim Lacon keeps a goat for thee,
      For thee the jocund shepherds wait;
      O Singer of Persephone!
      Dost thou remember Sicily?

'Theocritus' is reprinted from An Anthology of Modern Verse. Ed. A. Methuen. London: Methuen & Co., 1921.

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