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What slender youth (QUIS MULTA GRACILIS)

By Horace
     What slender youth, besprinkled with perfume,
         Courts you on roses in some grotto's shade?
       Fair Pyrrha, say, for whom
         Your yellow hair you braid,
     So trim, so simple! Ah! how oft shall he
       Lament that faith can fail, that gods can change,
         Viewing the rough black sea
           With eyes to tempests strange,
     Who now is basking in your golden smile,
       And dreams of you still fancy-free, still kind,
         Poor fool, nor knows the guile
           Of the deceitful wind!
     Woe to the eyes you dazzle without cloud
       Untried! For me, they show in yonder fane
         My dripping garments, vow'd
           To Him who curbs the main.






Book: Radiant Verses: A Journey Through Inspiring Poetry