Matthew Prior. Poems on Several Occasions :: :: University of Virginia Library

Matthew Prior. Poems on Several Occasions

The Text Edited by A. R. Waller

Prior, Matthew (1664-1721)

POEMS ON SEVERAL OCCASIONS.

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An ODE.

[While blooming Youth, and gay Delight]

I

While blooming Youth, and gay Delight
Sit on thy rosey Cheeks confest;
Thou hast, my Dear, undoubted Right
To triumph o'er this destin'd Breast.
My Reason bends to what thy Eyes ordain;
For I was born to Love, and Thou to Reign.

II

But would You meanly thus rely
On Power, You know I must Obey?
Exert a Legal Tyranny,
And do an Ill; because You may?
Still must I Thee, as Atheists Heav'n adore;
Not see thy Mercy, and yet dread thy Power?

III

Take Heed, my Dear: Youth flies apace:
As well as Cupid, Time is blind:
Soon must those Glories of thy Face
The Fate of vulgar Beauty find:
The Thousand Loves, that arm thy potent Eye,
Must drop their Quivers, flag their Wings, and die.

IV

Then wilt Thou sigh; when in each Frown
A hateful Wrinkle more appears;
And putting peevish Humours on,
Seems but the sad Effect of Years:
Kindness it self too weak a Charm will prove,
To raise the feeble Fires of aged Love.

V

Forc'd Compliments, and formal Bows
Will show Thee just above Neglect:
The Heat, with which thy Lover glows,
Will settle into cold Respect:
A talking dull Platonic I shall turn;
Learn to be civil, when I cease to burn.

VI

Then shun the Ill, and know, my Dear,
Kindness and Constancy will prove
The only Pillars fit to bear
So vast a Weight as that of Love.
If Thou can'st wish to make My Flames endure;
Thine must be very fierce, and very pure.

VII

Haste, Celia, haste, while Youth invites;
Obey kind Cupid's present Voice;
Fill ev'ry Sense with soft Delights,
And give thy Soul a Loose to Joys:
Let Millions of repeated Blisses prove,
That Thou all Kindness art, and I all Love.

VIII

Be Mine, and only Mine: take care
Thy Looks, thy Thoughts, thy Dreams to guide
To Me alone; nor come so far,
As liking any Youth beside:
What Men e'er court Thee, fly 'em, and believe,
They're Serpents all, and Thou the tempted Eve.

IX

So shall I court thy dearest Truth;
When Beauty ceases to engage:
So thinking on thy charming Youth,
I'll love it o'er again in Age:
So Time it self our Raptures shall improve;
While still We wake to Joy, and live to Love.