The Poetical Works of Thomas Moore :: :: University of Virginia Library

There is a Fount on Zea's isle,
Round which, in soft luxuriance, smile
All the sweet flowers, of every kind,
On which the sun of Greece looks down,
Pleased as a lover on the crown
His mistress for her brow hath twined,
When he beholds each floweret there,
Himself had wish'd her most to wear;

Here bloom'd the laurel-rose , whose wreath
Hangs radiant round the Cypriot shrines,
And here those bramble-flowers, that breathe
Their odour into Zante's wines :—
The splendid woodbine, that, at eve,
To grace their floral diadems,
The lovely maids of Patmos weave :—
And that fair plant, whose tangled stems
Shine like a Nereid's hair , when spread,
Dishevell'd, o'er her azure bed;—
All these bright children of the clime,
Each at its own most genial time,
The summer, or the year's sweet prime,)
Like beautiful earth-stars, adorn
The Valley, where that Fount is born:

While round, to grace its cradle green,
Groups of Velani oaks are seen,
Towering on every verdant height—
Tall, shadowy, in the evening light,
Like Genii, set to watch the birth
Of some enchanted child of earth—
Fair oaks, that over Zea's vales,
Stand with their leafy pride unfurl'd;
While Commerce, from her thousand sails,
Scatters their fruit throughout the world!

“Nerium Oleander. In Cyprus it retains its ancient name, Rhododaphne, and the Cypriots adorn their churches with the flowers on feast-days.” —Journal of Dr. Sibthorpe, Walpole's Turkey.

Id.

Lonicera Caprifolium, used by the girls of Patmos for garlands.

Cuscuta europæa. “From the twisting and twining of the stems, it is compared by the Greeks to the dishevelled hair of the Nereids.” —Walpole's Turkey.

“The produce of the island in these acorns alone amounts annually to fifteen thousand quintals.” —Clarke's Travels.