| William Stanley Braithwaite, ed. The Book of Restoration Verse. 1910. | | | | A Song: ‘I smile at Love and all its arts’ | | By Sir John Vanbrugh (1664–1726) |
| | | I SMILE 1 at Love and all its arts, | |
| The charming Cynthia cried: | |
| Take heed, for Love has piercing darts, | |
| A wounded swam replied. | |
| Once free and blest as you are now, | 5 |
| I trifled with his charms, | |
| I pointed at his little bow, | |
| And sported with his arms; | |
| Till, urged too far, Revenge! he cries, | |
| A fatal shaft he drew, | 10 |
| It took its passage through your eyes, | |
| And to my heart it flew. | |
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| To tear it thence I tried in vain, | |
| To strive, I quickly found, | |
| Was only to increase the pain, | 15 |
| And to enlarge the wound. | |
| Ah! much too well, I fear you knew | |
| What pain I’m to endure, | |
| Since what your eyes alone could do, | |
| Your heart alone can cure. | 20 |
| And that (grant Heaven I may mistake!) | |
| I doubt is doom to bear | |
| A burden for another’s sake, | |
| Who ill rewards its care. | |
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