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LVII.

TO CUPID, OR LOVE.

The FUMIGATION from AROMATICS.

I Call great Cupid, source of sweet delight,
Holy and pure, and lovely to the sight;
Darting, and wing'd, impetuous fierce desire,
With Gods and mortals playing, wand'ring fire:
Cautious, and two-fold, keeper of the keys 5
Of heav'n and earth, the air, and spreading seas;
Of all that Ceres' fertile realms contains,
By which th' all-parent Goddess life sustains,
Or dismal Tartarus is doom'd to keep,
Widely extended, or the sounding, deep; 10

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For thee, all Nature's various realms obey,
Who rul'st alone, with universal sway.
Come, blessed pow'r, regard these mystic fires,
And far avert, unlawful mad desires.


Next: LVIII: To The Fates