Classic Poem

Les Sciences

Weary of lights that dazzling play,
And oft have lured my steps astray,
Learning I'd half a mind to choose,
And pack off Cupid and the Muse
But ah! o'er such a wavering soul
Science can have but slight control:
I'll stick to Liz and La Fontaine —
Stay with me, Love; O Muse, remain!

Nature was my Armida — fair
Her gardens, and I deemed them rare,
Till bolder chemist, taking arms
Against illusion, spoiled their charms
In gases marvellously knowing,
All in his furnace he'd be throwing;
With him my Fairy's wand were vain —
Stay with me, Love; O Muse, remain!

I long for gossips' tales of old,
When by some learned Doctor told
That at his voice the dead appear,
The laws of life to render clear
Size, shape, material, springs — all these
In a mere lamp the Doctor sees;
I'm happy, so the light be gay —
O Love, O Muse, stay with me, stay!

But what, if Heaven should chance to kick at
These heaps of reckoning they're so quick at!
A slip the compasses may make,
And lead to many a grave mistake.
One age the laws of Physics changes;
O'er things gone-by, ours backward ranges
Lest the sun abdicate, I fear —
O Love, O Muse, stay with me here!

Let's drink of Poesy, drink deep —
Love closer to our hearts will creep:
This relic of ambrosial juice
The gods bequeathed for mortals' use
But whence this chill that on me weighs?
'Tis the cold evening of my days!
Ah! promise o'er my tomb to play —
O Love, O Muse, stay with me, stay!