T. R. Smith, comp. Poetica Erotica: Rare and Curious Amatory Verse. 1921–22.
To Chloe
By Horace (Quintus Horatius Flaccus) (658 B.C.)(Ode XXIII. Book I; translated by Sir Theodore Martin, 1881) |
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. | |
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. | |
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. | |