Page:Poems, Household Edition, Emerson, 1904.djvu/46

10 Thy softest pleadings seem too bold,

Thy praying lute will seem to scold;

Though thou kept the straightest road,

Yet thou errest far and broad.

But thou shalt do as do the gods

In their cloudless periods;

For of this lore be thou sure,—

Though thou forget, the gods, secure,

Forget never their command,

But make the statute of this land.

As they lead, so follow all,

Ever have done, ever shall.

Warning to the blind and deaf,

'T is written on the iron leaf,

Who drinks of Cupid's nectar cup

Loveth downward, and not up;

He who loves, of gods or men,

Shall not by the same be loved again;

His sweetheart's idolatry

Falls, in turn, a new degree.

When a god is once beguiled

By beauty of a mortal child

And by her radiant youth delighted,

He is not fooled, but warily knoweth

His love shall never be requited.

And thus the wise Immortal doeth,—

'T is his study and delight

To bless that creature day and night;