Iris all hues, roses, and jessamine Reared high their flourished heads between, and wrought Mosaic; underfoot the violet, Crocus, and hyacinth with rich inlay Broidered the ground, more coloured than with stone Of costliest emblem:
John Milton
Naiads, ye who dwell in a burning abode, continually pouring forth fire mixed with water, with your springs, ever saving so many seriously ill from hateful death, hail! And to the aid of mortals, pour forth water in abundance, gush forth, O beautiful fountains, O good ones, and pour forth health for the sick, baths for the healthy, bestowing many gifts on both.
Lattanzio Tolomei (1487-1543)
la terra arida / che rompe sotto Siena il suo mareggiare morto
Mario Luzi
the arid land / that breaks its dead tide beneath Siena
Francesco Patavino
Cavalca el Conte Guido per la Toscana la lanza in man che’l porta e la bandera
Dante, Inferno, Canto XXXI
Come in sulla cerchia tonda Monteriggion di torri si corona –
Summer’s lease hath all too short a date
William Shakespeare, Sonnet 18
E M Forster, A Room with a View
A hollow like a great amphitheatre, full of terraced steps and misty olives
Mma Ramotswe, Alexander McCall Smith, Tea Time for the Traditionally Built
We are born to be sociable and to sit together with others in the shade of the acacia tree and talk about things that happened the day before.
