 | The poetical works of John Godfrey Saxe |  |
ACT III.
Scene. same as before. Juno reading.(Enter Iris.)
Iris.
O gracious Queen, I 've had a precious time!
Well, I must say, if love is such a crime
As well I know it is, (the more 's the pity!)
There 's not a place on earth—hamlet or city—
That is n't full of it! In actual life
'T is the chief topic; fiction, too, is rife
With endless talk about it. On the stage,
In poems, songs, 't is everywhere the rage.
Love, love, was still the theme where'er I went,
In court, cot, castle, and the warrior's tent,
Love-knots, love-plots, love-murders!—such a rush
For love-romances in the papers—
Juno.
Hush!
Do stop your prattle, Iris, and confess
You found some souls as yet untainted—
Iris.
Yes!
That is, I heard of three,—three virgin breasts
That never once had throbbed at Love's behests.
Juno.
Of course you brought them with you. Three will prove
All are not vassals to the Queen of Love!
Iris.
Well—no—unluckily, the day before
A royal messenger from Pluto's shore
Took them away to grace his grimy court,
His stock of Furies being something short.
[Juno faints, and curtain falls.
| The poetical works of John Godfrey Saxe | |