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Home  »  The Poems of John Dryden  »  The Fair Stranger

John Dryden (1631–1700). The Poems of John Dryden. 1913.

Songs, Odes, and Lyrical Pieces

The Fair Stranger

A Song

1
HAPPY and free, securely blest,

No Beauty could disturb my Rest;

My am’rous Heart was in Despair,

To find a new victorious Fair:

2
Till you, descending on our Plains,

With foreign Force renew my Chains;

Where now you rule without Controul,

The mighty Sov’reign of my Soul.

3
Your Smiles have more of conqu’ring Charm

Than all your Native Country’s Arms:

Their Troops we can expel with Ease,

Who vanquish only when we please.

4
But in your Eyes, oh, there’s the Spell!

Who can see them, and not rebel?

You make us Captives by your Stay,

Yet kill us if you go away.