Daring to upraise thy banks 'Gainst fiery Cancer's heat, thou tak'st thy rise Beneath the zenith: straight towards the north And mid Bootes flowing; to the couch Bending, or to the risings, of the sun In sinuous bends alternate; just alike To Araby's peoples and to Libyan sands.
By Seres (18) first beheld, yet know they not Whence art thou come; and with no native stream Strik'st thou the Ethiop fields.

Nor knows the world To whom it owes thee.

Nature ne'er revealed Thy secret origin, removed afar.
Nor did she wish thee to be seen of men While still a tiny rivulet, but preferred Their wonder to their knowledge.

Where the sun Stays at his limit, dost thou rise in flood Untimely; such try right: to other lands Bearing try winter: and by both the poles Thou only wanderest.

Here men ask thy rise And there thine ending.