Sheepherders at Arcadia*

Sheepherders at Arcadia*

Sheepherders at Arcadia
Once drinking from a stream
Coming to surface from underground, where she had been,
Saw once with pure delight,
How came from sky a horrendous light,

They thought they were so filthy that
Not even common folk would them touch
But it was, as it were, something strange,
The blaze turned them into immortal frame,
They were so touched by that star,
That they became then and there
Calmed and frozen , as if love
Had made ways into them, Her
Winged poesy left them burnt,
Her beauteous glaze, made them charred,

Just then, at Arcadia, near that stream,
As if River of Life , came open, from being not so far Seen,
Alpheus, the three Sheepherders
Drank to their fill, Holy waters
Made them shiver, made them feel
How Love can be damnation, a way,
To meet their Parents, some thousand miles Away,
They then sat there, drinking quiet,
From the Fountain, that overwhelmed their Heart.

(*Note: the painting attached heightens and decorates the poem/scribbling. The painting Depicts the sheepherders, drinking from a fountain, water.
#Arcadia : a mythical place situated in Peloponnesus of Greece,#Alpheus : a mythical River which according to the legend turns into a Fountain at a place called Arethusa, Sicily.)