Classic Poem

" L'Amitie est l'Amour sans ailes. "
Friendship, as some sage poet sings,
Is chasten'd Love, depriv'd of wings,
Without all wish or power to wander;
Less volatile, but not less tender:
Yet says the proverb — " Sly and slow
Love creeps, even where he cannot go; "
To clip his pinions then is vain,
His old propensities remain;
And she, who years beyond fifteen,
Has counted twenty , may have seen
How rarely unplum'd Love will stay;
He flies not — but he coolly walks away.