“Eros is missing”

Meleager of Gadara (1st Century B.C.)

From the Greek by Charles Whibley

EROS is missing. In the early morn

Forth from his bed the rascal took his flight.

Sweet are his tears; his smile is touched with scorn—

A nimble-tongued, swift-footed, fearless sprite!

And he is winged; his hands a quiver bear.

What father ’t was begot him none can tell.

“He is not mine,” Earth, Air, and Sea declare.

That he ’s a foe to all, I know full well.

So keep good watch: beware his snare’s embrace;

Even now his toils may in thy pathway lie.

But look, who ’s that? Ah, there ’s his hiding-place!

I see him, bow and all, in Chloe’s eye.