Damon and Cupid
The sun was now withdrawn,
The shepherds home were sped;
The moon wide o’er the lawn
Her silver mantle spread;
When Damon stayed behind,
And sauntered in the grove:
“Will ne’er a nymph be kind,
And give me love for love?
“O! those were golden hours,
When Love, devoid of cares,
In all Arcadia’s bowers
Lodged nymphs and swains by pairs;
But now from wood and plain
Flies every sprightly lass;
No joys for me remain,
In shades, or on the grass.”
The wingèd boy draws near,
And thus the swain reproves:
“While Beauty revelled here,
My game lay in the groves;
At court I never fail
To scatter round my arrows:
Men fall as thick as hail,
And maidens love like sparrows.
“Then, swain, if me you need,
Straight lay your sheep-hook down;
Throw by your oaten reed,
And haste away to town.
So well I’m known at court,
None ask where Cupid dwells:
But readily resort
To Bellendens or Lepels.”
John Gay.