15 June 2015

River nymphs


Glico the running streames in sweetnesse still that keepes,
And Clymene which rules, when they surround their deepes.
Spio, in hollow bankes, the waters that doth hide:
With Opis that doth beare them backward with the tyde.
Semaia that for sights doth keepe the water cleare;
Zanthe their yellow sands, that maketh to appeare,
Then Drymo for the okes that shadow every banke,
Phylodice, the boughs for garlands fresh and ranke.
Which the clear Naiades make them anadems with all,
They are cauld to daunse in Neptunes mightie hall.
Then Lifeo, which maintaines the birds harmonious layes,
Which sing on river banks amongst the slender sprayes,
With Rhodida, which for them doth nurse the roseat sets,
Iodia, which preserves the azure violets.
from the Poly-Olbion by Michael Drayton (1612, 1622)

Image: detail from a map by William Hole for the Poly-Olbion

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