Thomas Humphry Ward, ed. The English Poets. 1880–1918.rnVol. II. The Seventeenth Century: Ben Jonson to Dryden

William Habington (1605–1654)

To Cupid, upon a Dimple in Castara’s Cheek

NIMBLE boy, in thy warm flight

What cold tyrant dimmed thy sight?

Had’st thou eyes to see my fair,

Thou would’st sigh thyself to air,

Fearing, to create this one,

Nature had herself undone.

But if you, when this you hear,

Fall down murdered through your ear,

Beg of Jove that you may have

In her cheek a dimpled grave.

Lily, rose, and violet

Shall the perfumed hearse beset;

While a beauteous sheet of lawn

O’er the wanton corpse is drawn:

And all lovers use this breath;

‘Here lies Cupid blest in death.’