A Ballad

Upon the plain there liv’d a swain

A Flock his whole employ

Unknown loves cares & all its snares

To damp his humble joy

Industry toils while Fortune smiles

To bless him with increase

Contentment made his humble trade

A Scene of Health & Peace

But Cupid sly whose jealous eye

Envied his happiness

With pointed darts & subtle arts

Resolved on his distress

Tho’ first in vain he Worked his brain

But practised in deceit

Fresh schemes & plans where nigh at hand

& some was sure to hit

In fatal hour he proved his power

A Shepherds form he ‘tain

With hook & song he hums along

& thus acosts the swain

Go friend he cried to yonder side

The hedge that bounds the plain

For there a lamb has lost his dam

& calls for help in vain

He instant starts his tender heart

O’erlooks the subtle snare

The swain’s beguiled pleased Cupid smiled

Fair Florimel was there

The Rosys red her cheeks bespread

Her bosom lily white

To view her charms each bosom warms

Enraptured at the sight

Her heaving breast her slender waist

Her shape genteel & tall

Her charms divine Unrivaled shine

Alike confessed by all

Beneath the shade the lovely maid

Was sheltered from the sun

O luckless swain go fly the plain

Or stay & be undone

For ah t’was proved by them that loved

She had a scornful eye

Her pride was vain no way to gain

Her pity but to dye

—Stretched on the Green—her beauty seen

To all advantage there

To meet the breeze that fanned the trees

Her snowy breast was bare

She meets his view, Sweet Peace adieu!

And Pleasures known before

He sighs—Approves—Admires & loves
His heart's his own no more

Poems Descriptive of Rural Life and Scenery (1820)
Recorded in 2009 by David Rowe as 'Cupid Sly'