Friday, April 6, 2012

Cupid Chastised (Bartolomeo Manfredi)






















#59

Of course, Mars is angry. That's his nature.
And Venus should divert his anger with love.
Poor Cupid was only doing his job, to move
Desire; mischievous, but not misbehavior.
Consider, the boy inflames the God of War
Towards the Goddess of Love, his mother.
Yes, some uproar among the gods ensues.
Venus and Mars are derided, labeled fools.
Did Cupid intend another sister or brother,
Or to soften the eternal wrath of Mars
By ambush, with a lover's show of arms?
He didn't count on being struck to the floor,
Or a Mars invulnerable to a Venus' alarm.
Each god must despise the thing he stands for.