Classic Poem

AN ODE .

Love is a noble, rich repast,
But seldom should the lover taste;
When the kind fair no more restrains,
The glutton surfeits and disdains.

To move the nymph he tears bestows;
He vainly sighs, he falsely vows:
The tears deceive, the vows betray;
He conquers, and contemns the prey.

Thus Ammon's son with fierce delight
Smil'd at the terrors of the fight;
The thoughts of conquest charm'd his eyes;
He conquer'd, and he wept the prize.

Love, like a prospect, with delight
Sweetly deceives the distant sight,
Where the tir'd travellers survey
O'er hanging rocks a dang'rous way.

Ye fair! that would victorious prove,
Seem but half kind when most ye love:
Damon pursues if Caelia flies,
But when her love is born, his dies.

Had Danae the young, the fair,
Been free and unconfin'd as air;
Free from the guards and brazen tow'r,
She'd ne'er been worth a golden show'r.