Classic Poem

O Lingurinus:
Still cruel,
still proud,
still powerful,
When flaunting your gifts from Venus —
You'll learn despair when your beard begins to grow.
That hair,
rippling over your shoulders
will fall out.
Your skin,
the fairest flower in a bed of roses,
will fade.
You'll see your altered face and say:
" This mind I have now,
why did I not train it as a boy?
How can I return
loveliness
to my cheeks?"