Читать книгу The Complete Poetical Works of James Russell Lowell - James Russell Lowell - Страница 219

My name is Water: I have sped

Through strange, dark ways, untried before,

By pure desire of friendship led,

Cochituate's ambassador;

He sends four royal gifts by me:

Long life, health, peace, and purity.

I'm Ceres' cup-bearer; I pour,

For flowers and fruits and all their kin,

Her crystal vintage, from of yore

Stored in old Earth's selectest bin,

Flora's Falernian ripe, since God

The wine-press of the deluge trod.

In that far isle whence, iron-willed,

The New World's sires their bark unmoored,

The fairies' acorn-cups I filled

Upon the toadstool's silver board,

And, 'neath Herne's oak, for Shakespeare's sight,

Strewed moss and grass with diamonds bright.

No fairies in the Mayflower came,

And, lightsome as I sparkle here,

For Mother Bay State, busy dame,

I've toiled and drudged this many a year,

Throbbed in her engines' iron veins,

Twirled myriad spindles for her gains.

I, too, can weave: the warp I set

Through which the sun his shuttle throws,

And, bright as Noah saw it, yet

For you the arching rainbow glows,

A sight in Paradise denied

To unfallen Adam and his bride.

When Winter held me in his grip,

You seized and sent me o'er the wave,

Ungrateful! in a prison-ship;

But I forgive, not long a slave,

For, soon as summer south-winds blew,

Homeward I fled, disguised as dew.

For countless services I'm fit,

Of use, of pleasure, and of gain,

But lightly from all bonds I flit,

Nor lose my mirth, nor feel a stain;

From mill and wash-tub I escape,

And take in heaven my proper shape.

So, free myself, to-day, elate

I come from far o'er hill and mead,

And here, Cochituate's envoy, wait

To be your blithesome Ganymede,

And brim your cups with nectar true

That never will make slaves of you.