Do not forsake me, thou poetic Muse.
Reveal, through my most tangled words wound round
Essential tethered Truth, the lesson found
Amid this peaceful painting we peruse.
Minerva's choice is offered to confuse,
Invoking virtue by which knights are bound;
Nearby, Venus's offer of love unbound
Gives goodly cause for gentle knights to choose.
Keep virtue close, but know what lies in wait:
No man avoids this hero's test in life.
Invoke the names of olden gods to aid;
Go gently forth, and meet what e'er your fate
Hath planned, for modern times of love and strife
Test all by which forgotten knights were made.
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Author Notes
A picture--especially by Raphael-- is worth at least a few words.
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