Anne Stevenson - Eros lyrics

I call for love But help me, who arrives? This thug with broken nose And squinty eyes. 'Eros, my bully boy, Can this be you, With boxer lips And patchy wings askew?' 'Madam,' cries Eros, 'Know the brute you see is what long overuse Has made of me. My face that so offends you Is the sum Of blows your lust delivered One by one. We slaves who are immortal Gloss your fate And are the archtypes That you create. Better my battered visage, Bruised but hot, Than love dissolved in loss Or left to rot