W HAT'S Life or Pleasure wanting Aphrodite?
When to the goldhaired goddess cold am I,
When love and tender gifts no more delight me,
Nor stolen dalliance, then I fain would die
Ah fair and lovely bloom the flowers of youth;
On men and maids they beautifully smile;
But soon comes doleful eld who void of ruth
Indifferently afflicts the fair and vile;
Then cares wear out the heart; old eyes forlorn
Scarce reck the very sunshine to behold;
Unloved by youths, of every maid the scorn,
Such the hard lot God lays upon the old