Poem by Constance Caroline Woodhill Naden

Hercules

THIS fruitage from the far Hesperides
I bring to great Eurystheus, feared and hated,
Whom I, his slave, nor hate nor fear; my fated,
My full reward, he has no power to seize,
Nor is it bought with golden gauds like these;
I seek supreme delights, untold, undated;
Of joys wherewith these kings of men are sated
Right little recks the Jove-born Hercules.

I live content to bear my destined burden,
To toil unthanked, unhonoured, void of guerdon,
To work a tyrant's will through lonely years;
That, neither shunning pain nor scorning pleasure,
My strenuous soul may win Olympian leisure,
And dwell in peace among the Gods, my peers.

1. Poet and Botanist
2. Undiscerned Perfection
3. Light-Born Sorrows
4. Moonlight and Gas
5. Natural Selection

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