Let others from the Town retire,
And in the fields seek new delight;
My Phillis does such joys inspire,
No other objects please my sight.
In her alone I find whate’er
Beauties a country landscape grace;
No shade so lovely as her hair,
Nor plain so sweet as is her face.
Lilies and roses there combine,
More beauteous than in flowery field;
Transparent is her skin so fine,
To this each crystal stream must yield.
Her voice more sweet than warbling sound,
Though sung by nightingale or lark;
Her eyes such lustre dart around,
Compared to them the sun is dark.
Both light and vital heat they give,
Cherish’d by them my love takes root;
From her kind looks does life receive,
Grows a fair plant, bears flowers and fruit.
Such fruit I ween did once deceive
The common parent of mankind,
And made transgress our mother Eve,
Poison its core, though fair its rind.
Yet so delicious is its taste,
I cannot from the bait abstain,
But to th’ enchanting pleasure haste,
Though I were sure ‘twould end in pain.
(Matthew Prior)
More Poetry from Matthew Prior:
Matthew Prior Poems based on Topics: Fairness, Sense & Perception, Light, Pain, Faces, Hair, Countries, Haste, Parents, Inspirational, Mankind- Carmen Seculare. For the Year 1700. To The King (Matthew Prior Poems)
- Alma; or, The Progress of the Mind. In Three Cantos. - Canto III. (Matthew Prior Poems)
- Alma; or, The Progress of the Mind. In Three Cantos. - Canto II. (Matthew Prior Poems)
- Alma; or, The Progress of the Mind. In Three Cantos. - Canto I. (Matthew Prior Poems)
- The Turtle And Sparrow. An Elegiac Tale (Matthew Prior Poems)
- An Ode - Humbly Inscribed To The Queen, On the Glorious Success of Her Majesty's Arms (Matthew Prior Poems)