Footsteps; and lo, descending by a
path
Italy : 39. The Fountain
By Samuel Rogers
It was a well
Of whitest marble, white as from the
quarry;
And richly wrought with many a high
relief,
Greek sculpture -- in some earlier day
perhaps
A tomb, and honoured with a hero's
ashes.
The water from the rock filled and
o'erflowed;
Then dashed away, playing the
prodigal,
And soon was lost -- stealing unseen,
unheard,
Thro' the long grass, and round the
twisted roots
Of aged trees; discovering where it ran
By the fresh verdure.  Overcome with
heat,
I threw me down; admiring, as I lay,
That shady nook, a singing-place for
birds,
That grove so intricate, so full of
flowers,
More than enough to please a child a-
Maying.
      The sun had set, a distant convent-
bell
Ringing the Angelus; and now
approached
The hour for stir and village-gossip
there,
The hour Rebekah came, when from
the well
She drew with such alacrity to serve
The stranger and his camels.  Soon I
heard
Trodden for ages, many a nymph
appeared,
Appeared and vanished, bearing on her
head
Her earthen pitcher.  It called up the
day
Ulysses landed there; and long I gazed,
Like one awaking in a distant time.
      At length there came the loveliest of
them all,
Her little brother dancing down before
her;
And ever as he spoke, which he did
ever,
Turning and looking up in warmth of
heart
And brotherly affection.  Stopping there,
She joined her rosy hands, and, filling
them
With the pure element, gave him to
drink;
And, while he quenched his thirst,
standing on tip-toe,
Looked down upon him with a sister's
smile,
Nor stirred till he had done, fixed as a
statue.
      Then hadst thou seen them as they
stood, Canova,
Thou hadst endowed them with
immortal youth;
And they had ever more lived
undivided,
Winning all hearts -- of all thy works the
fairest.
Glossary
Wrought: forjado
o'erflowed: overflowed
Thro': preposition through mediante
Stir: revolver
Alacrity: prontitud
Lo: object pronoun something abstract
Trodden: pisoteada/
Nymph: ninfa
Quenched: apagado/ a
Stirred: movido/a
Hadst: hubiese
Thou: tought