Prior, Matthew (1664-1721)

Caelia

c. 1718 [published 1907]

"My mind like Telephus's hurt is found. / The cause that gave can only Cure the wound."

Were Cælia Absent and remembrance brought 
Her and past Pleasures thick upon my thought 
With Bacchus' Liquors I'd Loves flames defeat 
He'd soon leave flut'ring, if his Wings were wet. 
Else to my Books I'd dedicate my Days, 
Forget my Daphne whilst I sought the Bays. 
Or shou'd all other Cures successless prove 
To some kind Present She my Suit I'd move 
Burns are expell'd by fire and Love by Love 
But when I want my Friend, when my vext heart 
Beats short, and pants and seeks its nobler part 
That absent one not millions can attone 
Amidst a Multitude I'm stil Alone 
My mind like Telephus's hurt is found. 
The cause that gave can only Cure the wound. 
(ll. 1-8, pp. 104)

Body::Wounds

HDIS

First published in Dialogues of the Dead and Other Works in Prose and Verse, ed. A. R. Waller (Cambridge: CUP, 1907).

Reading The Literary Works of Matthew Prior, eds. H. Bunker Wright and Monroe K. Spears. 2 vols. Second Edition. (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1971).

01/05/2004