Anacreon: Ode 58

ODE LVIII .

A S I wove with wanton care,
Fillets for a virgin's hair,
Culling for my fond design,
What the fields had fresh and fine:
Cupid, — and I mark'd him well,
Hid him in a cowslip bell;
While he plum'd a pointed dart,
Fated to inflame the heart.

Glowing with malicious joy,
Sudden I secur'd the boy;
And, regardless of his cries,
Bore the little frighted prize
Where the mighty goblet stood,
Teeming with a rosy flood.

" Urchin! " in my rage I cry'd,
" What avails thy saucy pride?
From thy busy vengeance free,
Triumph now belongs to me!
Thus — I drown thee in my cup;
Thus — in wine, I drink thee up. "

Fatal was the nectar'd draught
That to murder Love I quaff'd;
O'er my bosom's fond domains,
Now the cruel tyrant reigns,
On my heart's most tender strings
Striking with his wanton wings:
I'm for ever doom'd to prove
All the insolence of love.