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Home  »  Poetica Erotica  »  Epithalamium

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

Epithalamium

By John Dryden (1631–1700)
 
(From Amboyna, 1673)

THE DAY is come, I see it rise,
Betwixt the Bride’s and Bridegroom’s Eyes,
That Golden day they wish’d so long,
Love pick’d it out midst the throng;
He destin’d to himself this Sun,        5
And took the Reins and drove him on;
In his own Beams he drest him bright,
Yet bid him bring a better night.
 
The day you wish’d arriv’d at last,
You wish as much that it were past,        10
One minute more and night will hide,
The Bridegroom and the blushing Bride.
The Virgin now to Bed does go;
Take care, oh Youth, she rise not so;
She pants and trembles at her doom,        15
And fears and wishes thou wou’dst come.
 
The Bridegroom comes, He comes apace
With Love and Fury in his Face;
She shrinks away, He close pursues,
And Pray’rs and Threats at once does use,        20
She softly sighing begs delay,
And with her hand puts his away,
Now out aloud for help she cries,
And now despairing shuts her eyes.