Beauty

HORNS to bulls wise Nature lends;

Horses she with hoofs defends;

Hares with nimble feet relieves;

Dreadful teeth to lions gives;

Fishes learn through streams to slide;

Birds through yielding air to glide;

Men to courage she supplies;

But to women these denies.

What then give she? Beauty, this

Both their arms and armor is:

She, that can this weapon use,

Fire and sword with ease subdues.

Anakreon (Translated by Thomas Stanley, 1651)

The Grasshopper

Happy insect! what can be

In happiness compar'd to thee?

Fed with nourishment divine,

The dewy morning's gentle wine!

Nature waits upon thee still,

And thy verdant cup does fill;

'Tis filled wherever thou dost tread,

Nature self's thy Ganymede.

Thou dost drink, and dance, and sing;

Happier than the happiest king!

All the fields which thou dost see,

All the plants belong to thee;

All that summer hours produce;

Fertile made with early juice.

Man for thee does sow and plow;

Farmer he, and landlord thou!

Thou dost innocently joy;

Nor does thy luxury destroy;

The shepherd gladly heareth thee,

More harmonious than he.

Thee country-hinds with gladness hear,

Prophet of the ripen'd year!

Thee Phoebus loves, and does inspire;

Phoebus is himself thy sire.

To thee, of all things upon earth,

Life's no longer than thy mirth.

Happy insect, happy, thou

Dost neither age nor winter know;

But, when thou'st drunk, and danc'd and sung

Thy fill, the flowery leaves among,

(Voluptuous and wise withal,

Epicurean animal!)--

Sated with they summer feast,

Thou retir'st to endless rest.

Anakreon (Translated by Thomas Stanley)

All Things Drink

Fruitful earth drinks up the rain;

Trees from earth drink that again;

The sea drinks the air, the sun

Drinks the sea, and him the moon.

Is it reason then, d'ye think,

I should thirst when all else drink?

Anakreon (Translated by Thomas Stanley)