THE CUPIDS
by: William Allingham (1824-1889)
- n a grove I saw one day
- A flight of Cupids all at play,
- Flitting bird-like through the air,
- Or alighting here and there,
- Making every bough rejoice
- With a most celestial voice,
- Or amongst the blossoms found
- Rolling on the swarded ground.
- Some there were with wings of blue,
- Others some, of rosy hue,
- Here, one plumed with purest white,
- There, as dyed in golden light;
- Crimson some, and some I saw
- Coloured like the gay macaw.
- Many were the Queen of Beauty's--
- Many bound to other duties.
- A band of fowlers next I spied,
- Spreading nets on every side,
- Watching long, by skill or hap
- Fleeting Cupids to entrap.
- But if one at length was ta'en,
- After mickle time and pain,
- Whether golden one or blue,
- Piebald, or of rosy hue,
- When they put him in their cage
- He grew meagre as with age,
- Plumage rumpled, colour coarse,
- Voice unfrequent, sad, and hoarse;
- And little pleasure had they in him
- Who had spent the day to win him.
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"The Cupids" is reprinted from Poems. William Allingham. London: Chapman and Hall, 1850. |
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