ON MAY. WRITTEN IN APRIL MDCCLXI. John Cunningham Alexander Huber Editor Bodleian Libraries, University of Oxford
Broad Street Oxford OX1 3BG UK
Eighteenth-Century Poetry Archive
Taylor Institution Library St Giles' Oxford OX1 3NA UK info@eighteenthcenturypoetry.org https://www.eighteenthcenturypoetry.org/
Oxford This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License. T116245 1136 K093079.003 Pearch, G. A collection of poems in four volumes. By several hands. Vol. III. [The second edition]. London printed for G. Pearch 1770 pp. 303-304. 4v. ; 8⁰.

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ON MAY . WRITTEN IN APRIL MDCCLXI . BY THE SAME . THE virgin , when soften'd by May , Attends to the villager's vows ; The birds sweetly bill on the spray , And poplars embrace with their boughs . On Ida bright Venus may reign , Ador'd for her beauty above ; We shepherds , that live on the plain , Hail May as the mother of Love . From the west , as it wantonly blows , Fond Zephyr caresses the pine ; The bee steals a kiss from the rose , And willows and woodbines entwine ; The pinks by the rivulet's side , That border the vernal alcove , Bend downwards to kiss the soft tide , For May is the mother of Love . May tinges the butterfly's wing ; He flutters in bridal array : If the larks and the linnets now sing , Their music is taught them by May . The stock-dove , recluse with her mate , Conceals her fond bliss in the grove ; And murmuring seems to repeat , That May is the mother of Love . The goddess will visit you soon ; Ye virgins , be sportive and gay ; Get your pipes , oh ye shepherds , in tune , For music must welcome the May . Would Damon have Phillis prove kind , And all his keen anguish remove , Let him tell a soft tale , and he'll find , That May is the mother of Love .