Tall Salmacis

Were an apple tree a pine,
Tall and slim, and softly swaying,
Then her beauty were like thine,
Salmacis, when boune a Maying,
Tall as any poplar tree,
Sweet as apple blossoms be!

Had the Amazonian Queen
Seen thee 'midst thy maiden peers,
Thou the Coronel hadst been
Of that lady's Grenadiers;
Troy had never mourned her fall,
With thine axe to guard her wall.

As Penthesilea brave
Is the maiden (in her dreams);
Ilium she well might save,
Though Achilles' armour gleams,
'Midst the Greeks; all vain it is,
'Gainst the glance of Salmacis!

• About Andrew Lang