Poetical Works of Edmund Waller and Sir John Denham

To a Lady Singing a Song of His Composing

1 Chloris! yourself you so excel,
    When you vouchsafe to breathe my thought,
  That, like a spirit, with this spell
    Of my own teaching, I am caught.

2 That eagle’s fate1 and mine are one,
    Which, on the shaft that made him die,
  Espied a feather of his own,
    Wherewith he wont to soar so high.

3 Had Echo, with so sweet a grace,
    Narcissus’ loud complaints return’d,
  Not for reflection of his face,
    But of his voice, the boy had burn’d.

Notes

1 ‘Eagle’s fate’: Byron copies this thought in his verses on Kirke
    White