As Venus wandered 'midst the Idalian bower, And marked the loves and graces round her play; She plucked a musk-rose from its dew-bent spray, "And this," she cried, "shall be my favorite flower; For o'er its crimson leaflets I will shower Dissolving sweets to steal the soul away; That Dian's self shall own their sovereign sway, And feel the influence of my mightier power." Then spoke fair Cynthia, as severe she smiled, -- "Be others by thy amorous arts beguiled, Ne'er shall thy dangerous gifts these brows adorn: To me more dear than all their rich perfume The chaste camellia's pure and spotless bloom, That boasts no fragrance, and conceals no thorn." -- | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...CONTRA MORTEM: THE CHILD'S BEING by HAYDEN CARRUTH OUR CAMP; IN THE AUTUMN WOODS by ROBERT FROST WHAT I'VE BELIEVED IN by JAMES GALVIN BEFORE A PAINTING by JAMES WELDON JOHNSON CAMOMILE TEA by KATHERINE MANSFIELD DEAF HOUSE AGENT by KATHERINE MANSFIELD |