[Page 137]

ODE to CUPID on VALENTINE'S Day.

1 COME thou rosy-dimpled boy,
2 Source of ev'ry heart-felt joy,
3 Leave the blissful bow'rs awhile,
4 Paphos and the Cyprian isle:
5 Visit Britain's rocky shore,
6 Britons too thy pow'r adore.
7 Britons hardy, bold, and free,
8 Own thy laws, and yield to thee.
9 Source of ev'ry heart-felt joy,
10 Come thou rosy-dimpled boy.
[Page 138]
11 Haste to Sylvia, haste away,
12 This is thine, and Hymen's day;
13 Bid her thy soft bondage wear,
14 Bid her for Love's rites prepare.
15 Let the nymphs with many a flow'r
16 Deck the sacred nuptial bow'r.
17 Thither lead the lovely fair,
18 And let Hymen too be there.
19 This is thine, and Hymen's day,
20 Haste to Sylvia, haste away.
21 Only while we love we live,
22 Love alone can pleasure give;
23 Pomp and pow'r, and tinsel state,
24 Those false pageants of the great,
25 Crowns and scepters, envied things,
26 And the pride of Eastern kings,
27 Are but childish empty toys,
28 When compar'd to Love's sweet joys,
29 Love alone can pleasure give,
30 Only while we love, we live.

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About this text

Title (in Source Edition): ODE to CUPID on VALENTINE'S Day.
Themes: sex; relations between the sexes; love
Genres: ode
References: DMI 27838

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Source edition

Dodsley, Robert, 1703-1764. A Collection of Poems in Six Volumes. By Several Hands. Vol. VI. London: printed by J. Hughs, for R. and J. Dodsley, 1763 [1st ed. 1758], pp. 137-138. 6v.: music; 8⁰. (ESTC T131163; OTA K104099.006) (Page images digitized by the Eighteenth-Century Poetry Archive from a copy in the archive's library.)

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The text has been typographically modernized, but without any silent modernization of spelling, capitalization, or punctuation. The source of the text is given and all editorial interventions have been recorded in textual notes. Based on the electronic text originally produced by the TCP project, this ECPA text has been edited to conform to the recommendations found in Level 5 of the Best Practices for TEI in Libraries version 4.0.0.