Classic Poem

A FAR from Ister's subject tide
That laves his Dacian home,
The envoy Degis dwells beside
The royal stream of Rome;

The guardian of the world he saw,
Then turned he wondering,
Inspired with joy and raptured awe,
And hailed his absent king —

" Brother, the fates have favoured me,
Born 'neath a happy star;
For close at hand the God I see
You worship from afar."