Page:Poems, Household Edition, Emerson, 1904.djvu/140

104 None will now find Cupid latent

By this foolish antique patent.

He came late along the waste,

Shod like a traveller for haste;

With malice dared me to proclaim him,

That the maids and boys might name him.

Boy no more, he wears all coats,

Frocks and blouses, capes, capotes;

He bears no bow, or quiver, or wand,

Nor chaplet on his head or hand.

Leave his weeds and heed his eyes,—

All the rest he can disguise.

In the pit of his eye 's a spark

Would bring back day if it were dark;

And, if I tell you all my thought,

Though I comprehend it not,

In those unfathomable orbs

Every function he absorbs;

Doth eat, and drink, and fish, and shoot,

And write, and reason, and compute,

And ride, and run, and have, and hold,

And whine, and flatter, and regret,

And kiss, and couple, and beget,

By those roving eyeballs bold.

Undaunted are their courages,

Right Cossacks in their forages;

Fleeter they than any creature,—