| William Stanley Braithwaite, ed. The Book of Restoration Verse. 1910. | | | | To Apollo Making Love | | By Thomas Tickell (1686–1740) |
| | | I AM, cried Apollo, when Daphne he woo’d, | |
| And panting for breath, the coy maiden pursued, | |
| When his wisdom, in manner most ample, exprest, | |
| The long list of the graces his godship possest: | |
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| I’m the god of sweet song, and inspirer of lays; | 5 |
| Nor for lays, nor sweet song, the fair fugitive stays; | |
| I’m the god of the harp—stop my fairest—in vain; | |
| Nor the harp, nor the harper could fetch her again. | |
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| Every plant, every flower, and their virtues I know, | |
| God of light I’m above, and of physic below: | 10 |
| At the dreadful word physic, the nymph fled more fast; | |
| At the fatal word physic she doubled her haste. | |
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| Thou fond god of wisdom, then, alter thy phrase, | |
| Bid her view the young bloom, and thy ravishing rays, | |
| Tell her less of thy knowledge, and more of thy charms, | 15 |
| And, my life for’t, the damsel will fly to thy arms. | | | | |
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