Ode XIV: The Tomb of Dead Desire

When Venus saw Desire must die,
Whom high Disdain
Had justly slain,
For killing Truth with scornful eye:
The earth she leaves, and gets her to the sky;
Her golden hair she tears;
Black weeds of woe she wears;
For help unto her father doth she cry;
Who bids her stay a space,
And hope for better grace.

To save his life she hath no skill;
Whom should she pray,
What do, or say,
But weep for wanting of her will?
Meantime Desire hath ta'en his last farewell,
And in a meadow fair,
To which the nymphs repair,
His breathless corpse is laid with worms to dwell
So glory doth decay,
When death takes life away.

When morning star had chased the night,
The Queen of Love
Looked from above,
To see the grave of her delight:
And as with heedful eye she viewed the place,
She spied a flower unknown,
That on his grave was grown,
Instead of learned verse his tomb to grace.
If you the name require,
Hearts-ease from dead Desire.