From “The Odes of Anacreon”. Ode 20
One day the Muses twined the hands Of infant Love with flowery bands; And to celestial Beauty gave The captive infant for her slave. His mother comes, with many a toy, To ransom her beloved boy; His mother sues, but all in vain,-- He ne'er will leave his chains again. Even should they take his chains away, The little captive still would stay. "If this," he cries, "a bondage be, Oh, who could wish for liberty?"
Thomas Moore’s other poems: