40
THE POEMS
The Vernal Father bid the spring appear,
In clouds he coupled to produce the year;
The sap descending o'er her bosom ran,
And all the various sorts of soul began.
By wheels unknown to sight, by secret veins
Distilling life, the fruitful goddess reigns,
Through all the lovely realms of native day,
Through all the circled land, the circling sea;
With fertile seed she fill'd the pervious earth,
And ever fix'd the mystic ways of birth.
Let those love now, who never lov'd before;
Let those who always lov'd, now love the more.
In clouds he coupled to produce the year;
The sap descending o'er her bosom ran,
And all the various sorts of soul began.
By wheels unknown to sight, by secret veins
Distilling life, the fruitful goddess reigns,
Through all the lovely realms of native day,
Through all the circled land, the circling sea;
With fertile seed she fill'd the pervious earth,
And ever fix'd the mystic ways of birth.
Let those love now, who never lov'd before;
Let those who always lov'd, now love the more.
- ↑ In sinum maritus imber fluxit almæ conjugis,
Ut fœtus immixtus omnis aleret magno corpore.
Ipsa venas atque mentem permeante spiritu
Intus occultis gubernat procreatrix viribus,
Perque cœlum, perque terras, perque pontum subditum,
Pervium sui tenorem seminali tramite
Imbuit, jussitque mundum nosse nascendi vias.
Cras amet, qui numquam amavit; quique
amavit, cras amet.
Ipsa Trojanos nepotes in Latino transtulit;
Ipsa Laurentem puellam conjugem nato dedit;
