Poetry Explorer- Classic Contemporary Poetry, ON A YOUNG LADY'S GOING TO OWN IN THE SPRING, by MATTHEW PRIOR



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Classic and Contemporary Poetry

ON A YOUNG LADY'S GOING TO OWN IN THE SPRING, by                     Poet's Biography
First Line: One night unhappy celadon
Last Line: Not satisfied with private sway at home.
Subject(s): Flowers; Love; Night; Spring; Youth; Bedtime


ONE night unhappy Celadon,
Beneath a friendly myrtle's shade,
With folded arms and eyes cast down,
Gently reposed his love-sick head;
Whilst Thyrsis, sporting on the neighbouring plain,
Thus heard the discontented youth complain:

'Ask not the cause why sickly flowers
Faintly recline their drooping heads;
As fearful of approaching showers,
They strive to hide them in their beds;
Grieving with Celadon they downward grow,
And feel with him a sympathy of woe.

'Chloris will go; the cruel fair,
Regardless of her dying swain,
Leaves him to languish, to despair,
And murmur out in sighs his pain.
The fugitive to fair Augusta flies,
To make new slaves, and gain new victories.'

So restless monarchs, though possessed
Of all that we call state or power,
Fancy themselves but meanly blessed,
Vainly ambitious still of more.
Round the wide world impatiently they roam,
Not satisfied with private sway at home.





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