Richard Wilbur - Dear Boy lyrics

[PANGLOSS] Dear boy, you will not hear me speak With sorrow or with rancor Of what has paled my rosy cheek And blasted it with canker 'Twas love, great love that did the deed Through Nature's gentle laws And how should ill effects proceed From so divine a cause? Dear boy Sweet honey comes from bees that sting As you are well aware To one adept in reasoning Whatever pains disease may bring Are but the tangy seasoning Of love's delicious fare Columbus and his men, they say Conveyed the virus hither Whereby my features rot away And vital powers wither Yet they had they not traversed the seas And come infected back Why, think of all the luxuries That modern life would lack! Dear boy All bitter things conduce to sweet As this example shows Without the little spirochete We'd have no chocolate to eat Nor would tobacco's fragrance greet The European nose Each nation guards its native land With cannon and with sentry Inspectors look for contraband At every point of entry Yet nothing can prevent the spread Of love's divine disease It rounds the world from bed to bed As pretty as you please Dear boy Men worship Venus everywhere As can be plainly seen The decorations which I bear Are nobler than the Croix de Guerre And gained in service of our fair And universal queen