Classic Poem

Now aid me of this realm of bliss to tell,
Fair Erato! whose name and Love's are one;
Thou, albeit chaste, alone secure mayest dwell
Within the realm of Venus and her son;
Thou, sole art mistress of the amorous shell;
Love often chants with thee in unison;
And while his fatal quiver harmless lies,
Awakes thy lute's enchanting harmonies.

A pleasant mount o'erlooks the Cyprian isle,
Which, when the horizon glows with earliest day,
Beholds the seven horns of ancient Nile;
Along its steeps no mortal foot may stray;
Upon the summit of its towering pile,
A fair green hill o'ertops a meadow gay,
Where wanton airs with flowers are dallying still,
And the young herbage with soft tremors fill.

Walls of bright gold its farthest borders gird,
With a thick hedge of choice and graceful trees;
'Mid the fresh foliage many an amorous bird
Chants all day long his tender melodies;
Soft is the sound of murmuring waters heard,
Welling from fountains twain, whose properties
Are twofold; sweet and bitter are their waves,
And therein Love his golden arrows laves.

Nor ever is that eternal garden's hue
Whitened with the young frost, or sheeted snow:
There icy winter never dares break through,
Nor surly winds on herb or blossom blow;
Nor years their changing quarters ever knew;
But laughing spring fails not her smile to show;
Flings her wild golden tresses on the air,
And weaves with thousand flowers her chaplet fair.

Love's brethren on the banks, a wicked fry,
Whose arrows teach the vulgar herd to feel,
With clamours shrill and childhood's frolic cry,
Sharpen their bolt-heads with malicious zeal;
While Pleasure and Deceit are ever nigh,
To turn the handle of the cruel wheel;
False Hope and vain Desire attend thereon,
And with the sparkling fountain wet the stone.

And pleasing Fear and timorous Delight
Together go; sweet Quarrels, sweeter Peace;
The Tears, their bosoms sad o'erflowing quite,
Therewith the bitter streamlet's tide increase;
Uneasy Love, exanimate Affright,
To pine with Care and Sickness never cease;
Sleepless Suspicion every corner spies,
And bounding Joy through the mid pathway flies.

Pleasure with Beauty revels in deep bliss;
Content flits by, while Anguish sits to mourn;
Blind Error strays now here, now there amiss;
Mad Fury's cheeks by his own hands are torn;
Sad Penitence, her crime too late who sees,
Flings herself on the earth in mood forlorn;
Cruelty wades in blood, with fell delight,
And fierce Despair the fatal noose makes tight.

Demurely silent Fraud, forced Merriment,
Sly Signals, couriers from the heart that fly;
The Glances, gazing with fond looks intent,
Spreading their nets to snare the unwary try;
Weeping, her brow upon her palm low bent,
Stands with her company of Sorrows nigh;
And here and there bounds reckless in her glee,
License, from every rule and measure free.

Such is the army which thy children lead,
All-beauteous Venus, mother of the Loves!
Zephyr in softest dew bathes all the mead,
Shedding a thousand perfumes as he moves;
Lily and rose and violet succeed
His kisses, blossoming where'er he roves;
The field its rich attire with wonder views,
Its white, cerulean, and vermilion hues.

The virgin bud looks down with modest dread,
Her infant beauty trembling to disclose;
Her bosom to the solar blaze to spread,
Brilliant and laughing seeks the full-blown rose;
In emerald gems this hides her timid head;
This at the lattice her fair promise shows;
This languid in the o'erpowering ardour faints,
And with rich tints the beauteous herbage paints.