Dido to Ictinus

Miss Flaxman

The wanton boy who pierces hearts
Had long been absent on his duty
But wanting arrows home he flies
To greet mama, the queen of beauty
My son she cried and sweetly smil’d
My darling mischief loving child
Hast thou with thy keenest dart
Struck Ictinus stubborn heart?
Indeed mama it would be glorious
O’er such a heart to be victorious
’Tis form’d of such obdurable stuff!
Sure never was a heart so tough!
It blunts the points of all my arrows
And down they drop like shotten sparrows.
That heart of his is cas’d so well
Or like Sir More who kill’d the dragon
Is he I’ve made this hot attack on
Or like fair Thetis’ valiant son
In Styx he has had a dipping
Or else as sure as any gun
I must have caught him tripping
By daddy Jove I’ll make him feel
I’ll find a keener dart
And not like Paris hit the heel
But strike a nobler part.

Dido