Song to Ceres

Ceres, Great Goddess of the bounteous Year,
Who load’st the Teeming Earth with Gold and Grain,
Blessing the Labours of th’ Industrious Swain,
And to their Plaints inclin’st thy gracious Ear:
Behold two fair Cicilian Lovers lie
Prostrate before thy Deity;
Imploring thou wilt grant the Just Desires
Of two Chaste Hearts that burn with equal Fires.

Amyntas he, brave, generous and young;
Whom yet no Vice his Youth has e’er betray’d:
And Chaste Urania is the Lovely Maid;
His Daughter who has serv’d thy Altars long,
As thy High Priest: A Dowry he demands
At the young Amorous Shepherds hands:
Say, gentle Goddess, what the Youth must give,
E’er the Bright Maid he can from thee receive.