University of Virginia Library

Search this document 
Poems on Various Subjects

with some Essays in Prose, Letters to Correspondents, &c. and A Treatise on Health. By Samuel Bowden
 
 

collapse section
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
expand section
 
 
 
TO A GENTLEMAN,
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
expand section
 
expand section
 
 
 
 
 


90

TO A GENTLEMAN,

Who sitting near a YOUNG LADY, presented a Pop-Gun at the Author.

------ lethalis arundo.
Virg.

Mistaken Marskman! I defy
Your impotent artillery;
Your level'd tube I value not,
Nor tremble at the threaten'd shot;
When the fair Lady who sits by,
Shoots darts more fatal from her eye.
As well I might a hornet fear,
When the arm'd porcupine is near;
Or from a hissing squib retire,
When lightnings set the heavens on fire.
Mistaken Marksman! now you may
Such idle bullets throw away;
For what avails your Pop-gun skill,
Your shot may wound—but hers can kill.