Pygmalion

Statue into Woman

 

The sculptor Pygmalion creates a statue of a woman so realistic that he falls in love with her. So he goes to the temple of Venus and prays for his creation to come to life.

 

Returning, he the darling statue seeks

Of his fair nymph; extends him on the couch;

Kisses, and thinks he feels her lips grow warm:

Applies his lips again, and with his hand

Presses her bosom: prest the ivory yields,

Softening beneath his fingers; nor remains

Its rigid harshness. So Hymettus' wax

Yields to the heat, when tempering thumbs it mould

In various forms; and fit for future use.

Astonish'd now he joys with trembling soul,

But fears deception; then he loves again,

And with his hands again his wishes proves:

“Twas flesh, the prest pulse leap'd beneath his thumb.

Then did the Cyprian youth, in words most full

Of gratitude and love, to Venus pray.

Then to her living lips his lips he join'd,

And then the damsel felt his warm salute:

Blushing she felt it, and her timid eyes

Op'd to the light, and with the light beheld

Her lover.