Love
On a Fan of the Author's Design: Imitation of Waller
From Imitations of English Poets
'Come, gentle Air!' the Aeolian shepherd said,
While Procris panted in the secret shade;
'Come, gentle Air!' the fairer Delia cries,
While at her feet her swain expiring lies.
Lo! the glad gales o'er all her beauties stray,
Breathe on her lips, and in her bosom play!
In Delia's hand this toy is fatal found,
Nor could that fabled dart more surely wound:
Both gifts destructive to the givers prove;
Alike both lovers fall by those they love.
Yet guiltless too this bright destroyer lives,
At random wounds, nor knows the wound she gives:
She views the story with attentive eyes,
And pities Procris, while her lover dies.
Cite this poem
MLA
Pope, Alexander. “On a Fan of the Author's Design: Imitation of Waller.” Poetry Codex, poetrycodex.com/poem/pope/22/.
Chicago
Pope, Alexander. “On a Fan of the Author's Design: Imitation of Waller.” Poetry Codex. https://poetrycodex.com/poem/pope/22/.
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More by Alexander Pope
- The Temple of Fame
- On Sir William Trumbull
- Horace Imitated: Part of the Ninth Ode of the Fourth Book
- Verses Left by Mr Pope on His Lying in the Same Bed Which Wilmot, the Celebrated Earl of Rochester, Slept in at Adderbury, July 9, 1739
- To Mr Lemuel Gulliver: The Grateful Address of the Unhappy Houyhnhnms