STELLA'S BIRTHDAY MARCH 13, 1719

by: Jonathan Swift (1667-1745)

      TELLA this day is thirty-four,
      (We shan't dispute a year or more:)
      However, Stella, be not troubled,
      Although thy size and years are doubled,
      Since first I saw thee at sixteen,
      The brightest virgin on the green;
      So little is thy form declin'd;
      Made up so largely in thy mind.
       
      Oh, would it please the gods to split
      Thy beauty, size, and years, and wit;
      No age could furnish out a pair
      Of nymphs so graceful, wise, and fair;
      With half the lustre of your eyes,
      With half your wit, your years, and size.
      And then, before it grew too late,
      How should I beg of gentle Fate,
      (That either nymph might have her swain,)
      To split my worship too in twain.

"Stella's Birthday March 13, 1719" is reprinted from Miscellanies in Prose and Verse. Jonathan Swift. London: Benjamin Motte, 1727.

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