Poetry Explorer


Classic and Contemporary Poetry


CUPID A PLOWMAN by MOSCHUS

First Line: HIS LAMP HIS BOW AND QUIVER LAID ASIDE
Last Line: WHAT ONCE EUROPA WAS, NANNETTE IS NOW.
Subject(s): CUPID; GODDESSES & GODS; MYTHOLOGY; PLOWING & PLOWMEN; EROS;

HIS lamp, his bow, and quiver, laid aside,
A rustic wallet o'er his shoulders tied;
Sly Cupid, always on new mischief bent,
To the rich field and furrowed tillage went;
Like any ploughman toiled the little god,
His tune he whistled, and his wheat he sowed;
Then sat and laughed, and to the skies above
Raising his eye, he thus insulted Jove:
Lay by your hail, your hurtful storms restrain,
And, as I bid you, let it shine or rain,
Else you again beneath my yoke shall bow,
Feel the sharp goad, and draw the servile plough;
What once Europa was, Nannette is now.



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