Poems, Songs and Love-Verses upon several Subjects. By Matthew Coppinger |
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A Dialogue between an Æthiopian, and a White Virgin.
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 | Poems, Songs and Love-Verses |  |
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A Dialogue between an Æthiopian, and a White Virgin.
Vir.Affright me not, you urge your suit in vain;
More Fear than Love your Hellish looks have bred.
Eternal terror seize you for your pain;
Think you I'll take a Devil to my Bed?
Go Court the Darkness, Wed thy self to Night;
Fry in your Sands, and search for grains of Gold;
O Sun, how canst thou thus behold a sight
That will thy glorious beams in darkness fold!
Fry in your Sands, and search for grains of Gold;
O Sun, how canst thou thus behold a sight
That will thy glorious beams in darkness fold!
Sure thou art Pluto, ugly infernal Prince,
Be gone, I say, be gone to the Divine
And Beautious Creature thou didst ravish hence,
The lovely, Fair, and Charming Proserpine.
Eth.
Be gone, I say, be gone to the Divine
And Beautious Creature thou didst ravish hence,
The lovely, Fair, and Charming Proserpine.
Whitest of Whites, more lovely than the day,
Which from the East in radiant beams appears,
More lovely to my sight than Cynthia,
Which twice six times a year her Beauty clears,
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Despise me not because that I am black;
The Sun you speak of lyes so neer our Land,
We have him in our Face, you on your Back;
Nay, sometimes with him we walk Hand in Hand.
The Sun you speak of lyes so neer our Land,
We have him in our Face, you on your Back;
Nay, sometimes with him we walk Hand in Hand.
Since then that he who the whole World surveys,
Doth deal his Blessings with partiality,
You he does warm, us scorcheth with his Rays;
Your Beauty works the like effect on me.
Vir.
Doth deal his Blessings with partiality,
You he does warm, us scorcheth with his Rays;
Your Beauty works the like effect on me.
My Beauty, Slave! stop that presumptious word;
Shall such a Harpy ever speak my Name?
Does Earth another Cacus yet afford?
What was I born to be a sport to Fame?
Thou art that brand the fatal Sisters threw
Into the Fire at Meleager's Birth,
Which half consum'd, in hast Althæa drew
Out of the Flame; be gone, thou Son of Earth.
Eth.
Into the Fire at Meleager's Birth,
Which half consum'd, in hast Althæa drew
Out of the Flame; be gone, thou Son of Earth.
Alas! too cruel Nymph, despise me not;
A Slave I am, but unto none but you.
Whiteness in you none counteth as a spot;
And in our Black lies our chief glory too.
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The Day is pleasant unto every sight,
And all men praise the glory of the Sun;
Yet when 'tis gone, how soon they hug the Night,
And sleeping, in its sable Bosom run.
And all men praise the glory of the Sun;
Yet when 'tis gone, how soon they hug the Night,
And sleeping, in its sable Bosom run.
'Tis only Fancy moves the Sphere of Love;
No Colour wards, where Cupid shoots his dart;
Thou God, who all things with thy power dost move,
With one small touch O wound this Virgins Heart;
No Colour wards, where Cupid shoots his dart;
Thou God, who all things with thy power dost move,
With one small touch O wound this Virgins Heart;
That she who doth thy Power so much despise,
May quickly by experience learn to know,
Thou only giv'st those leave to Tyrannize
That pay submission to thy Conquering Bow.
May quickly by experience learn to know,
Thou only giv'st those leave to Tyrannize
That pay submission to thy Conquering Bow.
Observe the Rain-bow, view the Colours there,
Looks it not pleasant unto every Eye?
Diversity of Colours makes it fair:
Discord in Musick makes an Harmony.
Since then that I am Black, and you are Fair,
What a sweet Babe may come from such a pair?
Looks it not pleasant unto every Eye?
Diversity of Colours makes it fair:
Discord in Musick makes an Harmony.
Since then that I am Black, and you are Fair,
What a sweet Babe may come from such a pair?
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