Why have you sought the Greeks, Eros,
when such delight was yours in the far depth
of sky: there you could note bright ivory
take colour where she bent her face, and watch
fair gold shed gold on radiant surface of porch
and pillar: and ivory and bright gold, polished
and lustrous grow faint beside that wondrous flesh
and print of her foot-hold: Love, why
do you tempt the Grecian porticoes?
Here men are bent with thought and
women waste fair moments gathering lint and pricking
coloured stuffs to mar their breasts, while
she, adored, wastes not her fingers, worn
of fire and sword, wastes not her touch on
linen and fine thread, wastes not her head in
thought and pondering, Love, why have you sought
the horde of spearsmen, why the tent Achilles
pitched beside the river-ford?