internetPoem.com Login

On A Thief (from The Greek)

William Cowper

When Aulus, the nocturnal thief, made prize
Of Hermes, swift-wing'd envoy of the skies,
Hermes, Arcadia's king, the thief divine,
Who when an infant stole Apollo's kine,
And whom, as arbiter and overseer
Of our gymnastic sports, we planted here;
'Hermes,' he cried, 'you meet no new disaster
Ofttimes the pupil goes beyond the master.'

(C) William Cowper
04/15/2015


Best Poems of William Cowper