ON THE HOT SPRINGS OF CHARLES IV.
Fountain of health, the poets honoured theme,
Say whence thy fervid waters flow!
Rush they in subterraneous stream
From where sulphureous tides in Aetna glow,
Or fraught with healing elements ascend,
Sent, when the Stygian God in softened mind,
Had bid his fires their genial influences lend,
In mercy to mankind?
To thee the palm must classic Baiae yield
And Brentas baths by old Antenor sought,
And e’en the Rhenish springs, historie field,
Where Charlemagne victorious faught,
And where they wept him dead,
To thee must bow the head.
See how the bubbling water steam on high,
Impatient of restraint,
The rock, the marble, owns a brighter dye
Than Iris itself could paint!
To suffering man from nature’s genial breast
A boon transcendant ever may’st thou flow,
Blest holy fount, still bid old age to know
Reviving vigour, and if health repressed
Fade in the virgins cheek, renew its glow
For love and joy, and they that in thy wave
Confiding trust and thankful lave
Propitious aid, and speed the stranger band,
With health and life renewed to the native land.
Carlsbad, 16th September 1834.
