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...STUDY FOR A GEOGRAPHICAL TRAIL; 1. SEATTLE by CLARENCE MAJOR THE BLACK MONKEY by KATHERINE MANSFIELD TO A LADY WHO HAD OFFERED HIM A WREATH OF LAUREL by GEORGE SANTAYANA TWO PROMENADES SENTIMENTALES: 1. RAIN by EDITH SITWELL |