An Ode: While Blooming Youth, and Gay Delight

WHILE blooming Youth, and gay Delight
Sit on thy rosey Cheeks confest ;
Thou hast, my Dear, undoubted Right
To triumph o'er this destin'd Breast.
My Reason bends to what thy Eyes ordain ;
For I was born to Love, and Thou to Reign.

But would You meanly thus rely
On Power, You know I must Obey?
Exert a Legal Tyranny,
And do an Ill ; because You may ?
Still must I Thee, as Atheists Heav'n adore ;
Not see thy Mercy, and yet dread thy Power?

Take Heed, my Dear : Youth flies apace :
As well as Cupid, Time is blind :
Soon must those Glories of thy Face
The Fate of vulgar Beauty find :
The Thousand Loves, that arm thy potent Eye,
Must drop their Quivers, flag their Wings, and die.

Then wilt Thou sigh ; when in each Frown
A hateful Wrinkle more appears ;
And putting peevish Humours on,
Seems but the sad Effect of Years :
Kindness it self too weak a Charm will prove.
To raise the feeble Fires of aged Love.

Forc'd Compliments, and formal Bows
Will show Thee just above Neglect :
The Heat, with which thy Lover glows.
Will settle into cold Respect :
A talking dull Platonic I shall turn ;
Learn to be civil, when I cease to burn.

Then shun the Ill, and know, my Dear,
Kindness and Constancy will prove
The only Pillars fit to bear
So vast a Weight as that of Love.
If Thou can'st wish to make My Flames endure ;
Thine must be very fierce, and very pure.

Haste, Celia, haste, while Youth invites ;
Obey kind Cupid's present Voice ;
Fill ev'ry Sense with soft Delights,
And give thy Soul a Loose to Joys :
Let Millions of repeated Blisses prove.
That Thou all Kindness art, and I all Love.

Be Mine, and only Mine : take care
Thy Looks, thy Thoughts, thy Dreams to guide
To Me alone ; nor come so far,
As liking any Youth beside :
What Men e'er court Thee, fly 'em, and believe.
They're Serpents all, and Thou the tempted Eve.

So shall I court thy dearest Truth ;
When Beauty ceases to engage :
So thinking on thy charming Youth,
I'll love it o'er again in Age :
So Time it self our Raptures shall improve ;
While still We wake to Joy, and live to Love.