Respectfully Inscribed to a Bevy of Fair Ladies -- COME pluck me a feather from Cupid's left wing And slit it & nib it so finely And dip the gay pen in Castalea's best spring, That with it I may write divinely. I'll note down the charm of the nymph I adore, Oh! could I but note them so truly! You'd think that bright Venus had knock'd at your door, All clasp'd in her cestus so newly. My love has an air beyond all compare, And one of the loviest faces With sweet tell-tale eyes and fine ringlets of hair, In short she's grandchild to the graces. But her elegant mind, by learning refin'd, Lends a lustre to beauty's exterior While her wit so sublime, and her manner refin'd Evince that she has no superior. The last polish to give, sage wisdom 'tis known, Perfected her brilliant attractions; While piety, virtue and prudence all shone, In her words, and in her looks, and her actions. Now Fanny the pretty, & Sally the witty, Lovely Sue with her blue laughing eyes, And Belles of the thicket, & belles of the city, Are full of most curious surmise. "La! who can she be, he don't surely mean me? Tho I own I am like her in mind; But the face, her sweet face, one plainly may see, Must be for some other design'd." "La! how can you talk so," grave Anna exclaims, "The face may suit one of your standing But I know who he means when her prudence he names, And speaks of her fine understanding." Indeed, my sweet misses, your guess all amiss is, She is only Dame Fancy's bright daughter; And the Nymph who is wise, to herself ne'er applies, What may only expose her to laughter. | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...PSALM 55 by OLD TESTAMENT BIBLE THE AVENUE by EDMUND CHARLES BLUNDEN THE BOOK TO THE READER by WILLIAM BOSWORTH BEYOND RECALL by MARY EMILY NEELEY BRADLEY WHEN WE ARE ALL ASLEEP by ROBERT WILLIAMS BUCHANAN A POETICAL VERSION OF A LETTER ON RESIGNATION, FROM JACOB BEHMEN by JOHN BYROM A WOMAN AT HER HUSBAND'S GRAVE by JOSEPH SEAMON COTTER JR. |