Ah friends, who altered grow

    XLV

        …Ὄττινας γάρ 
    εὖ θέω, κῆνοί με μάλιστα σίνον-

    ται…

         AH friends, who altered grow, 
         No rancour shall ye sow 
         Within my simple mind : 
    I ponder on the days when ye were kind. 

         In summer drouth we tread 
         A torrent's whitened bed, 
         And love to recollect 
    How here the deep, cold waters rushed uncheckt. 

         The oleander-rose 
         Its flushing light still throws 
         Across the stony track ; 
    And all the fertilizing founts well back. 

        We see by the ravine 
        The seats of shady green 
        That drew us to the bank : 
    Sacred the channel where athirst we drank. 

        I will not then refuse 
        On those sweet years to muse 
        Before ye loved me less, 
    O friends, or sought to injure and distress. 

        Ill-favoured now ye seem, 
        But I of you will dream 
        As of a beauty gone 
    That once the lingering sunshine looked upon.