A handsome lad; a fair young maiden
Doomed to be united
Through foul misplay and trickery
Starts a tale of love unrequited

The musings of a poet
With lyrics of a bard
Strumming so prolific
Unable to be marred

This radiant God Apollo
Was a master of the lyre
With a passion so intense
It burned inside like fire

The cause for his devotion
The object of affection
Was a nymph of elicit beauty
Whom he considered to be perfection

This maiden, Daphne, spurned all suitors
Her mere presence was alluring
Yet relentless in his fervent quest
Apollo kept enduring

The mischief Love would thus evoke
Was wrought on by vexation
A scheme to cause contempt and woe
Conjured malicious elation

With two arrows, one gold and one lead
He pierced both hearts without contrite
The golden tip incurring desire
Whilst filled with hatred, the lead would incite

Apollo lusted in pursuit
Enamored with her entrances
Begging the maiden for affection
As she rebuffed all his advances

The maiden Daphne kept on fleeing
As he'd plead for her to stay
Intent on remaining ever chaste
For her father's help she'd pray

"Peneus, save thou daughter
And change thy mortal form
For the beauty which I doth possess
Hath only danger bourn"

"Enclose the Earth around me
Grant thy will, I do implore
That I may be spared thy virtue
And not spend thy life forlorn"

Her legs instantly transformed to bark
As branches, her arms, now sway
With hair of leaves, she became a tree
Whose feet were rooted where she lay

Apollo embraced the beloved branches
Hoping that she would be restored
But the fervor that Apollo had shown
Was one Daphne had abhorred

Distraught, he made a solemn vow
To decorate the heads
Of kings and queens with crowns of wreaths
Made from the leaves that she would shed

With lyre now in hand he mourns
And under shade sings of sorrow
Of the laurel tree that holds his heart
His love living through the morrow