| T. R. Smith, comp. Poetica Erotica: Rare and Curious Amatory Verse. 1921–22. | | | | To Chloe | | By Horace (Quintus Horatius Flaccus) (65–8 B.C.) |
| | (Ode XXIII. Book I; translated by Sir Theodore Martin, 1881) |
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NAY, hear me, dearest Chloe, pray! | |
| You shun me like a timid fawn, | |
| That seeks its mother all the day | |
| By forest brake and upland lawn, | |
| Of every passing breeze afraid, | 5 |
| And leaf that twitters in the glade. | |
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| Let but the wind with sudden rush | |
| The whispers of the wood awake, | |
| Or lizard green disturb the hush, | |
| Quick-darting through the grassy brake, | 10 |
| The foolish frightened thing will start, | |
| With trembling knees and beating heart. | |
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| But I am neither lion fell, | |
| Nor tiger grim to work you woe; | |
| I love you, sweet one, much too well, | 15 |
| Then cling not to your mother so, | |
| But to a lover’s tender arms | |
| Confide your ripe and rosy charms. | | | |
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