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Home  »  Poetica Erotica  »  A Song from “The Banished Cavalier”

T. R. Smith, comp. Poetica Erotica: Rare and Curious Amatory Verse. 1921–22.

A Song from “The Banished Cavalier”

By Aphra Behn (1640–1689)
 
WHEN Damon first began to love,
He languisht in a soft desire,
And knew not how the Gods to move,
To lessen or increase his fire,
For Celia in her charming eyes        5
Wore all love’s Sweet, and all his cruelties.
 
But as beneath a shade he lay,
Weaving of flowers for Celia’s hair,
She chance to lead her flock that way,
And saw the amorous shepherd there.        10
She gazed around upon the place,
And saw the grove (resembling night)
To all the joys of love invite,
 
Whilst guilty smiles and blushes drest her face,
At this the bashful youth all transport grew,        15
And with kind force he taught the virgin how
To yield what all his sighs could never do.