After which the celestial closes
Are barred to us; if in despite
Of such high favor, arrogant
We blindly choose to bide our time,
Rejecting Heaven's, and ignorant
What we have spurned, attempt to climb
To heavenly places at our will,
Finding no path thereto but one,
Nemesis-guarded, where atone
To heaven, all such as hopeful still,
Press toward the mount, yet find it strewn
With corpses, perished by the way,
Of those who Fate did importune
Too rashly, or her will gainsay;
If I have been thrust out from heaven
This night, for insolent disdain
Of putting a young god in pain,
How shall I hope to be forgiven?
Yet let me not be judged as one
Who mocks at any high behest,
My fault being that I kept the throne
Of a Jove vacant in my breast,
And when Apollo claimed the place
I was too loyal to my Jove,
Unmindful the how the masks of love
Transfigure all things to our face.
17
