Poetical Works of Edmund Waller and Sir John Denham

Of Mrs Arden

Behold, and listen, while the fair
Breaks in sweet sounds the willing air,
And with her own breath fans the fire
Which her bright eyes do first inspire.
What reason can that love control,
Which more than one way courts the soul?

So when a flash of lightning falls
On our abodes, the danger calls
For human aid, which hopes the flame 9
To conquer, though from heaven it came;
But if the winds with that conspire,
Men strive not, but deplore the fire.

[1] ‘Mrs. Arden’: some suggest that this lady was probably either a maid of honour, or a gentlewoman of the bed-chamber to King Charles the First’s Queen.