WHEN Kneller's works of various grace Were to fair Venus shown; The goddess spied in every face Some features of her own. Just so! (and pointing with her hand) So shone, says she, my eyes When from two goddesses I gained An apple for a prize. When in the glass, and river too, My face I lately viewed, Such was I, if the glass be true, If true the crystal flood. In colours of this glorious kind Apelles painted me; My hair thus flowing with the wind, Sprung from my native sea. Like this, disordered, wild, forlorn, Big with ten thousand fears, Thee, my Adonis, did I mourn, Even beautiful in tears. But, viewing Myra placed apart, I fear, says she, I fear, Apelles, that Sir Godfrey's art Has far surpassed thine here. Or I, a goddess of the skies, By Myra am outdone, And must resign to her the prize, The apple which I won. But, soon as she had Myra seen, Majestically fair, The sparkling eye, the look serene, The gay and easy air; With fiery emulation filled, The wondering goddess cried, Apelles must to Kneller yield, Or Venus must to Hyde. | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...TO MARY IN HEAVEN by ROBERT BURNS THE DEATH OF LEONIDAS by GEORGE CROLY THE CANDLE INDOORS by GERARD MANLEY HOPKINS SOLITUDE by ELLA WHEELER WILCOX THE GIRLS' LOT by AGATHIAS SCHOLASTICUS |