Poetry Explorer


Classic and Contemporary Poetry


THE CRUEL MISTRESS by WILLIAM HAMMOND

First Line: TELL ME, O LOVE, WHY CELIA, SMOOTH
Last Line: MUST BACKWARD, LIKE THE SACRED TONGUE, BE READ.'
Subject(s): LOVE - COMPLAINTS;

TELL me, O Love, why Celia, smooth
As seas when winds forbear to soothe
Their waves to wanton curls, than down
More swift, which doth the thistle crown,
Whiter than is the milky road,
That leads to Jove's supreme abode,
Should harder far and rougher be
Than most obdurate rocks to me?
Sheds on my hopes as little day,
As the pale Moon's eclipsed ray?
My heart would break, but that I hear
Love gently whisper in my ear,
'Actions of women, by affection led,
Must backward, like the sacred tongue, be read.'



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