CUPID AND THE MUSES, a poem

"Revetior illas, mater; nam venerandae sunt, et semper quiddam commeditantur..."—Lucian.

ONCE lovely Venus to her wayward boy—
     Her wilful torment and her keen delight—
Spake chidingly:—"Why must you me annoy
     With your capricious wiles by day and night?
Perplexing child, display your arts elsewhere:
Turn you to those whom idly now you spare!
     Cold in content, and armored in their pride,
Behold the Muses!—let them claim your care!"
     To whom the laughing Cupid: "Nay, I've tried
What ways I know, to move those ladies fair;
     But, ah, my mother, they're so occupied!"

"Cupid and the Muses" by Florence Earle Coates. Published in The Unconquered Air (1912) and Poems (1916) Volume II.