Poetry Explorer- Classic Contemporary Poetry, THE ORIGIN OF LOVE; AN ALLEGORY, by PLATO


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Classic and Contemporary Poetry

THE ORIGIN OF LOVE; AN ALLEGORY, by                     Poet's Biography
First Line: When beauty was born, a magnificent fete
Last Line: Suspicious, mendacious, and fearful of blame.
Subject(s): Love - Beginnings


I.

WHEN Beauty was born, a magnificent fete
Was ordered to crown the auspicious event;
And to all the Olympians, little and great,
And many besides, invitations were sent.

II.

In the various throng who attended the rout
Was Plenty (of Prudence the favorite son),
A rosy-cheeked god, who went strolling about
In the garden of Jove, when the banquet was done.

III.

Here, falling asleep at the close of the day,
Miss Poverty saw him, -- a mendicant maid,
Who chanced at the time to be passing that way,
And entered the garden to follow her trade.

IV.

How the damsel, at sight, fell in love with the youth,
It is easy to guess; though I never could learn,
As touching another more wonderful truth,
How she managed to waken his love in return.

V.

But so it befell; and the marriage came off
In a manner not quite the conventional thing;
And Virtue will scold, and Propriety scoff
When couples forget the connubial ring.

VI.

The union occasioned no little surprise;
And gossip, of course, was exceedingly free
With merry remark and sarcastic surmise
As to "what in creation the offspring would be."

VII.

But Time, the Expositor, settled the doubt
To the perfect content of the people above;
One sunshiny morning the secret was ont;
The baby was born, and who was it but Love!

VIII.

As the urchin grew up, it was plain to be seen
He shared all the traits both of mother and sire:
A singular mixture of noble and mean;
A deal to regret, with as much to admire.

IX.

As the grandson of Prudence, the younker displayed
A turn for intrigue and a masterful mind;
While, as Poverty's son, he as clearly betrayed
A nature to fawning and begging inclined.

X.

By his sire he is courtly, voluptuous, proud;
Abundant in hope and ambitious in aim.
By his mother, submissive and easily cowed;
Suspicious, mendacious, and fearful of blame.





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