[Page 235]

SONG. To SYLVIA.

1 IF truth can fix thy wav'ring heart,
2 Let Damon urge his claim,
3 He feels the passion void of art,
4 The pure, the constant flame.
5 Tho' sighing swains their torments tell,
6 Their sensual love contemn;
7 They only prize the beauteous shell,
8 But slight the inward gem.
9 Possession cures the wounded heart,
10 Destroys the transient fire;
11 But when the mind receives the dart,
12 Enjoyment whets desire.
[Page 236]
13 By age your beauty will decay,
14 Your mind improves with years;
15 As when the blossoms fade away,
16 The rip'ning fruit appears:
17 May heav'n and Sylvia grant my suit,
18 And bless the future hour,
19 That Damon, who can taste the fruit,
20 May gather ev'ry flow'r!

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About this text

Title (in Source Edition): SONG. To SYLVIA.
Author: David Garrick
Themes: love
Genres: ballad metre; Chevy Chase stanza; song
References: DMI 22543

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Source edition

Dodsley, Robert, 1703-1764. A Collection of Poems in Six Volumes. By Several Hands. Vol. III. London: printed by J. Hughs, for R. and J. Dodsley, 1763 [1st ed. 1758], pp. 235-236. 6v.: music; 8⁰. (ESTC T131163; OTA K104099.003) (Page images digitized by the Eighteenth-Century Poetry Archive from a copy in the archive's library.)

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