EMPEROR and Turk, I wot, With their schemes torment me not; Hopes of making mighty gain, Tempt not me who wealth disdain. And still less do I desire Fame and titles to acquire, Or the pomp and gaudy show Which the greatest monarchs know. I my thought and care apply To the day that passes by; Fools are they who pine and fret For what the future may beget. Who to-morrow's fate can tell? Like a master, quickly, well, Forge me, Vulcan! without fail-- Not a steel-bright coat of mail That will never break or yield; Nor I ask an ample shield, Nor a trenchant scimitar-- What have I to do with war? Rather be thy skill displayed In a cup of silver made; And the goblet all around Let not cruel war be found, Nor of murder dreadful forms, Nor the might of raging storms, Nor the barren ocean shrouded, By black threatening skies o'erclouded, Nor depict the broken mast In the raging billows cast: But the pleasant clinging vine, And its laughing grapes design, And God Bacchus ivy-crowned, Whom do jolly troops surround; Goat-horned Satyrs who are dragging The slow ass 'neath burden lagging, On whom does Silenus ride, Toppling oft from side to side. And my love to represent, Let thy chiefest skill be spent; And be sure that Venus fair And her cupids all be there. | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...DOWN BY THE CARIB SEA: 6. SUNSET IN THE TROPICS by JAMES WELDON JOHNSON THE STRAPLESS by KAREN SWENSON THE SUPERSEDED by THOMAS HARDY IN THE OLD SOUTH CHURCH; 1677 by JOHN GREENLEAF WHITTIER BROTHER BENEDICT by ALFRED AUSTIN STEEL OR GOLD?; THE QUESTION by LOUISA SARAH BEVINGTON DIGNITY OF LABOR by LEVI BISHOP |