Eros Drapeta

THE RUNAWAY LOVE

Cypris was loudly crying after Love, her son: "Whoever has seen Love wandering at the crossroads, he is a runaway of mine; whoever informs of him shall have a reward. Your wage is the kiss of Cypris; and if you bring him to me, not the bare kiss only, stranger, but you shall have still more. The child is very marked; among twenty children you would know him. His skin is not white but like fire; his eyes are keen and flaming; evil his heart, sweet his speech; for he does not mean the same as he says: like honey is his voice, but like gall is his mind; savage, a deceiver, in nothing truthful, a tricky infant, cruel in his play. Fair-curled is his head, but he has a brazen brow. Tiny are his little hands, yet far he shoots, shoots even to Acheron and to the kingdom of Hades. Naked is his whole body, but his mind is well-cloaked. And winged like a bird he flits from one to another, upon men and women, and settles upon their hearts. He has a very small bow, and upon the bow an arrow, tiny is the arrow, yet it is carried up to the sky. And a golden quiver about his back, and within are the bitter reeds with which he often wounds even me. All these things are savage; but far more so is his torch: small though the flame is, it sets the very Sun ablaze. If you catch him, bind him and bring him, and have no pity. And if you see him weeping, beware lest he deceive you. And if he laughs, drag him along. And if he wishes to kiss you, flee; evil is his kiss, his lips are poison. And if he says, 'Take these, I give you freely all my weapons,' do not touch the deceiving gifts; for they are all dipped in fire.