Helen Leah Reed

Poems

To Maecenas. Iii-29 (from The Odes Of Horace) Poem Rhyme Scheme and Analysis

Rhyme Scheme: ABCB DEDE CFDF EGHG IDID JKLM NNEN OPQP NRSR TUNU DDDD UENE INUN CNNN NDDD ENIN V

M cenas scion of Tyrrhenian rulersA
A jar as yet unpierced of mellow wineB
Long waits thee here with balm for thee made readyC
And blooming roses in thy locks to twineB
-
No more delay nor always look with favorD
The sloping fields of sula uponE
Why gaze so long on ever marshy TiburD
Near by the mount of murderer TelegonE
-
Give up thy luxury it palls upon theeC
Thy tower that reaches yonder lofty cloudF
Cease to admire the smoke the wealth the uproarD
And all that well hath made our Rome so proudF
-
Sometimes a change is grateful to the rich manE
A simple meal beneath a humble roofG
Has often smoothed from care the furrowed foreheadH
Though unadorned that home with purple woofG
-
Bright Cepheus now his long hid fire is showingI
Now flames on high the angry lion starD
Now Procyon rages and the sun revolvingI
Brings back the thirsty season from afarD
-
Seeking a cooling stream the weary shepherdJ
His languid flock leads to the shady woodK
Where rough Sylvanus reigns yet by the brooksideL
No truant breeze disturbs the solitudeM
-
Ah who but thee is busy now with statecraftN
Thou plannest for Rome's weal disquietedN
Lest warring Scythian Bactrian or PersianE
Should'st plunge the city into awful dreadN
-
A prudent deity in pitchy darknessO
The issue of futurity concealsP
And smiles when man beyond the right of mortalsQ
His fear about the time to come revealsP
-
Thou should'st concern thee only with the presentN
All else progresses as the river flowsR
Which gliding at one time in middle channelS
Toward the Tuscan Sea unruffled goesR
-
Or at another time herds trees and housesT
And broken rocks to one destruction dragsU
When wild the flood provokes the quiet currentN
With noise from neighboring woods and distant cragsU
-
Happy he lives and of himself is masterD
That man who can at night with truth declareD
I have lived to day to morrow let the FatherD
Make as he will my sky or dark or fairD
-
It is not his to render vain and worthlessU
My happy past the bliss has dearer grownE
That the fleet footed hour carried with itN
The joys that once have been are still my ownE
-
Now upon me again on others smilingI
Fortune rejoices in her savage tradeN
Of shifting thus at will uncertain honorsU
As stubbornly her mocking game is playedN
-
I praise her when she stays but if she leave meC
Fluttering her airy wings in hasty flightN
I yield her what she gave and wrapped in virtueN
In dowerless Poverty find my delightN
-
Although the mast may crack beneath the South windN
I will not rush with many a doleful prayerD
To barter thus my vows lest all my treasureD
From Tyre and Cyprus should become a shareD
-
Of what the greedy sea has in possessionE
Nay then protected in my two oared boatN
With favoring winds and with twin Pollux guidingI
Safe through the gean tempests I will floatN
-
This version won in the Sargent Prize offered annually to students of Harvard University and Radcliffe CollegeV

Helen Leah Reed



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About To Maecenas. Iii-29 (from The Odes Of Horace)

To Maecenas. Iii-29 (from The Odes Of Horace) is a poem by Helen Leah Reed. This page includes the poem text, poet information, related topics, comments, and similar poems.


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