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Home  »  The Oxford Book of English Verse  »  85. Cards and Kisses

Arthur Quiller-Couch, ed. 1919. The Oxford Book of English Verse: 1250–1900.

John Lyly. 1553–1606

85. Cards and Kisses

CUPID and my Campaspe play’d 
At cards for kisses—Cupid paid: 
He stakes his quiver, bow, and arrows, 
His mother’s doves, and team of sparrows; 
Loses them too; then down he throws         5
The coral of his lips, the rose 
Growing on ‘s cheek (but none knows how); 
With these, the crystal of his brow, 
And then the dimple of his chin: 
All these did my Campaspe win.  10
At last he set her both his eyes— 
She won, and Cupid blind did rise. 
  O Love! has she done this for thee? 
  What shall, alas! become of me?