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The Swallow

Anacreon

How am I to punish thee,
For the wrong thou'st done to me
Silly swallow, prating thing...
Shall I clip that wheeling wing?

Or, as Tereus did, of old,
(So the fabled tale is told,)
Shall I tear that tongue away,
Tongue that uttered such a lay?

Ah, how thoughtless hast thou been!
Long before the dawn was seen,
When a dream came o'er my mind,
Picturing her I worship, kind,

Just when I was nearly blest,
Loud thy matins broke my rest!

Odes of Anacreon - Ode X
Translated from the Greek by Thomas Moore.

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