Classic Poem

When Cythera saw Adonis
Cold, and lifeless as a stone is,
Wild with grief she showered caresses
On his wild dishevelled tresses,
And his fairest face of faces,
Whereon now of rose no trace is,
While sharp pangs of grief shot through her;
She the Loves bade bring unto her
The wild boar which slew her lover.
They forthwith did wander over
All the forest till they found him,
Then with strongest cords they bound him;
One fair Love with zeal unflagging
By a rope the beast kept dragging,
Him behind another harrows
Striking him with pointed arrows;
Slowly was the beast advancing,
While his capturers kept lancing
His dark fell with sportive malice.
When they reached Cythera's palace
Thus spake Aphrodite to him:
" Hateful beast, is't thou that slew him?
Him will life no longer quicken,
My Adonis hast thou stricken!
His white thigh so softly rounded
Have thy wicked weapons wounded. "
But he answered, " Aphrodite,
By myself, and these my mighty
Hunters, and thy beauteous lover,
I the reason will discover.
Know, I did not wish to kill him,
Pained am I that death should chill him;
But I gazed infatuated
On his peerless charms ill-fated.
I was mad to kiss his naked
Thighs, and I my passion slaked.
Thus the lover thou didst cherish
Slain was — but my teeth let perish;
Wrench them from my jaws, and should not
These appease thee — my life that would not
To the voice of reason hearken
Cut away. " Although so stark in
Death Adonis slept, compassion
For his slayer's fatal passion
Filled her heart, so 'twas no wonder
That she bade the Loves to sunder
The boar's fetters; yet no more he
Sought the woods, and freedom's glory;
But the queen of love and laughter
Evermore he followed after;
And with ceaseless plaint kept mourning,
Pardon by his penitence earning.