The Poems of Oscar Wilde/Theocritus: A Villanelle

by Oscar Wilde

For other versions of this work, see Theocritus: A Villanelle.

THEOCRITUS

A VILLANELLE

O singer of Persephone!
In the dim meadows desolate
Dost thou remember Sicily?

 

Still through the ivy flits the bee
Where Amaryllis lies in state;
O Singer of Persephone!

 

Simætha calls on Hecate
And hears the wild dogs at the gate;
Dost thou remember Sicily?

 

Still by the light and laughing sea
Poor Polypheme bemoans his fate;
O Singer of Persephone!

 

And still in boyish rivalry
Young Daphnis challenges his mate;
Dost thou remember Sicily?

 

Slim Lacon keeps a goat for thee,
For thee the jocund shepherds wait;
O Singer of Persephone!
Dost thou remember Sicily?