WHEN Kneller's works of various grace Were to fair Venus shown; The goddess spied in every face Some features of her own. Just so! (and pointing with her hand) So shone, says she, my eyes When from two goddesses I gained An apple for a prize. When in the glass, and river too, My face I lately viewed, Such was I, if the glass be true, If true the crystal flood. In colours of this glorious kind Apelles painted me; My hair thus flowing with the wind, Sprung from my native sea. Like this, disordered, wild, forlorn, Big with ten thousand fears, Thee, my Adonis, did I mourn, Even beautiful in tears. But, viewing Myra placed apart, I fear, says she, I fear, Apelles, that Sir Godfrey's art Has far surpassed thine here. Or I, a goddess of the skies, By Myra am outdone, And must resign to her the prize, The apple which I won. But, soon as she had Myra seen, Majestically fair, The sparkling eye, the look serene, The gay and easy air; With fiery emulation filled, The wondering goddess cried, Apelles must to Kneller yield, Or Venus must to Hyde. | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...CHARLESTON by PAUL HAMILTON HAYNE A DREAM, OR THE TYPE OF THE RISING SUN by JEAN ADAMS WHAT DICK AN' I DID by WILLIAM BARNES CLOUD-LIFE by EDMUND CHARLES BLUNDEN BEYOND THE BARS by GEORGE E. BOWEN TESTAMENT FOR MY STUDENTS, 1968 - 1969 by KAY BOYLE |