Poetry Explorer- Classic Contemporary Poetry, THE INNOCENT MAGICIAN; OR, A CHARM AGAINST LOVE, by PHILIP AYRES


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Classic and Contemporary Poetry

THE INNOCENT MAGICIAN; OR, A CHARM AGAINST LOVE, by                     Poet's Biography
First Line: A great, but harmless conjurer am I
Last Line: So ends my charm. Run to your freedom: run.
Subject(s): Charms (magic); Love


A GREAT, but harmless conjurer am I,
That can Love's captives set at liberty;
Hearts led astray by his deluding flame,
I to their peaceful dwellings can reclaim;
Love's wings I clip, and take from him his arms,
By the sole virtue of my sacred charms.

His empire shakes when I appear in sight,
My words the wing'd and quiver'd boys affright;
Their close retreats my boundless power invades,
Nor can they hide them in their myrtle shades.
Their Sun's bright rays, they now eclips'd shall find,
Whose fancied light strikes giddy Lovers blind,

Rays of fair eyes, which they proclaim divine,
And boast they can Sol's dazzling beams out-shine.
The storms of sighs, and rivers of their eyes,
My skill allays, and their large current dries.
Hearts that are dead, I from their graves retrieve,
And by my magic-spell can make them live.

For know, they're only tricks, and subtil arts,
With which the Tyrant Love ensnares our hearts;
This traitor plants his toils to gain his prize,
In curls of flaxen hair, and sparkling eyes:
In each soft look, and smile, he sets a gin,
White hands or snowy breasts can tempt us in.

Wholly on mischief is his mind employ'd,
His fairest shows do greatest dangers hide;
With charming sounds his vot'ries he beguiles,
Till he destroys them by his Syren's wiles;
His cunning Circes ev'rywhere deceive,
And men of souls and human shape bereave.

A thousand other arts this treach'rous boy,
To heedless lovers' ruin does employ.
Be watchful then, and his allurements shun:
So ends my charm. Run to your Freedom: run.





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