Ode in Imitation of Horace's Ode V, Book I

Ode in Imitation of Horace's Ode V, Book I
by Abraham Cowley
7878Ode in Imitation of Horace's Ode V, Book IAbraham Cowley

Quis multâ gracilis te puer in rosâ Perfusus, &c. Lib. 1. Od. 5

To whom now Pyrrha, art thou kind?
     To what heart-ravisht lover,
Dost thou thy golden locks unbind,
     Thy hidden sweets discover,
     And with large bounty open set
All the bright stores of thy rich cabinet?

Ah, simple youth! how oft will he
     Of thy chang'd faith complain!
And his own Fortunes find to be
     So airy and so vain,
     Of so cameleon-like an hew;
That still their colour changes with it too!

How oft, alas! will he admire
     The blackness of the skies?
Trembling to hear the winds sound higher,
     And see the billows rise!
     Poor unexperienc'ed he
Who ne're, alas! before had been at sea!

He' enjoyes thy calmy sun-shine now,
     And no breath stirring hears,
In the clear heaven of thy brow,
     No smallest cloud appears.
     He sees thee gentle, fair, and gay,
And trusts the faithless April of thy May.

Unhappy! thrice unhappy he,
     T' whom thou untry'd dost shine!
But there's no danger now for Me,
     Since o're Loretto's shrine
     In witness of the shipwrack past
My consecrated vessel hangs at last.

This work was published before January 1, 1929, and is in the public domain worldwide because the author died at least 100 years ago.

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