Goddess the laughter-loving, Aphrodite, befriend! <br />Long have I served thine altars, serve me now at the end, <br />Let me have peace of thee, truce of thee, golden one, send. <br /> <br />Heart of my heart have I offered thee, pain of my pain, <br />Yielding my life for the love of thee into thy chain; <br />Lady and goddess be merciful, loose me again. <br /> <br />All things I had that were fairest, my dearest and best, <br />Fed the fierce flames on thine altar: ah, surely, my breast <br />Shrined thee alone among goddesses, spurning the rest. <br /> <br />Blossom of youth thou hast plucked of me, flower of my days; <br />Stinted I nought in thine honouring, walked in thy ways, <br />Song of my soul pouring out to thee, all in thy praise. <br /> <br />Fierce was the flame while it lasted, and strong was thy wine, <br />Meet for immortals that die not, for throats such as thine, <br />Too fierce for bodies of mortals, too potent for mine. <br /> <br />Blossom and bloom hast thou taken, now render to me <br />Ashes of life that remain to me, few though they be, <br />Truce of the love of thee, Cyprian, let me go free. <br /> <br />Goddess the laughter-loving, Aphrodite, restore <br />Life to the limbs of me, liberty, hold me no more <br />Having the first-fruits and flower of me, cast me the core.<br /><br />Ernest Christopher Dowson<br /><br />http://www.poemhunter.com/poem/libera-me/
