The bronze-headed dart with a cast that delivers + 

Neck and sinew from wrestling with sweat down-pouring + 

Ere the limbs strain hard where the sunglare quivers⁠— + 

Never, I swear it! If toil there hath been, + 

The delight that succeedeth is yet more keen. + 

Nay, forgive, if my song over-loudly was soaring + 

For old times’ glory! In these my lays + 

No niggard am I of the victor’s praise. + 

Easy it is flower-garlands to twine; + 

Nay, but tarry a space till this Muse of mine + 

Shall have knit the gold to the ivory + 

And the lily-like blossom of stone that she drew + 

From the depths where it lurked beneath spray-dew + 

That falls on the face of the slumbrous sea. + 