I' TH' autumn of a summer's day, When all the winds got leave to play, Lucasta, that fair ship, is launch'd, And from its crust this almond blanch'd. Blow then, unruly North-wind, blow, Till in their holds your eyes you stow; And swell your cheeks, bequeath chill death: See! she hath smil'd thee out of breath! Court, gentle Zephyr, court and fan Her softer breast's carnation'd wan; Your charming rhetoric of down Flies scatter'd from before her frown. Say, my white water-lily, say, How is 't those warm streams break away, Cut by thy chaste cold breast which dwells Amidst them arm'd in icicles? And the hot floods, more raging grown In flames of thee than in their own, In their distempers wildly glow, And kiss thy pillar of fix'd snow. No sulphur, through whose each blue vein The thick and lazy currents strain, Can cure the smarting, nor the fell Blisters of love wherewith they swell. These great physicians of the blind, The lame, and fatal blains of Ind, In every drop themselves now see Speckled with a new leprosy. As sick drinks are with old wine dash'd, Foul waters too with spirits wash'd, Thou griev'd, perchance, one tear let'st fall, Which straight did purify them all. And now is cleans'd enough the flood, Which since runs clear, as doth thy blood; Of the wet pearls uncrown thy hair, And mantle thee with ermine air. Lucasta, hail! fair conqueress Of fire, air, earth, and seas; Thou whom all kneel to, yet even thou Wilt unto Love, thy captive, bow. | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...WOMEN AND ROSES by ROBERT BROWNING ODE ON THE POETICAL CHARACTER by WILLIAM COLLINS (1721-1759) THE CARELESS GALLANT by THOMAS JORDAN A NIGHT-PIECE ON DEATH by THOMAS PARNELL EPISTLE TO DR. ENFIELD ON HIS REVISITING WARRINGTON IN 1789 by ANNA LETITIA BARBAULD SUNRISE AND SUNSET: 1. SUNRISE by GEORGE BARLOW (1847-1913) SHE LOOKS BEYOND TO-MORROW by RUTH FITCH BARTLETT |