Amores

Ovid

Ovid. Ovid's Art of Love (in three Books), the Remedy of Love, the Art of Beauty, the Court of Love, the History of Love, and Amours. Dryden, John, et al., translator. New York: Calvin Blanchard, 1855.

  1. Ah me! why am I so uneasy grown?
  2. Ah! why so restless on my bed of down?
  3. Why do I wish to sleep, but wish in vain?
  4. Why am I all the tedious night in pain?
  5. What cause is this, that ease, that rest denies?
  6. And why my words break forth in gentle sighs?
  7. Sure I should know if love had fix'd his dart;
  8. Or creeps he softly in with treacherous art,
  9. And then grows tyrant, there and wounds the heart?
  10. 'Tis so, the shaft sticks deep, and galls my breast;
  11. 'Tis tyrant love, that robs my thoughts of rest!
  12. Well, shall I tamely yield, or must I fight?
  13. I'll yield; 'tis patience makes a burden light:
  14. A shaken torch grows fierce, and sparks arise;
  15. But, if unmov'd, the fire looks pale and dies.
  16. The hard-mouth'd horse smarts for his fierce disdain
  17. The gentle's ridden with a looser rein.
  18. Love smooths the gentle, but the fierce reclaims;
  19. He fires their breasts, and fills their souls with flames.
  20. I yield; great Love, my former crimes forgive,