Lowell's "The Shepherd of King Admetus"

Here are few verses to sooth your soul this afternoon. Put down that third martini and read this from James Russell Lowell:

There came a youth upon the earth,

Some thousand years ago,

Whose slender hands were nothing worth,

Whether to plow, to reap, or sow.

Upon an empty tortoise-shell

He stretched some chords, and drew

Music that made men’s bosoms swell

Fearless, or brimmed their eyes with dew.

Then King Admetus, one who had

Pure taste by right divine,

Decreed his singing not too bad

To hear between the cups of wine

And so, well-pleased with being soothed

Into a sweet half-sleep,

Three times his kingly beard he smoothed,

And made him viceroy o’er his sheep.

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