Love in Fantastic Triumph sat,
Whilst Bleeding Hearts around him flowed,
For whom Fresh pains he did Create,
And strange Tyrannic power he showed
The opening line introduces the reader to Cupid through the personified name "Love." The god traditionally associated with playfulness and mischief is here presented as a despotic king who instead of creating love creates pain and suffering. These lines subvert the common reading of Cupid and his arrows, suggesting that the speaker has been scorned or rejected by the person she addresses.
From thy Bright Eyes he took his fire,
Which round about, in sport he hurled;
But ’twas from mine he took desire
Enough to undo the Amorous World.
The speaker describes Cupid as having gained certain elements from both her and her beloved. Here, she establishes the dichotomy between herself, who has been harmed, and her beloved, who has not returned her affections. That she provided the desire, or emotional longing, while her beloved provided the "fire" suggests that Love is an experience characterized by both pleasure and pain, euphoric and harmful at the same time.
From me he took his sighs and tears,
From thee his Pride and Cruelty;
From me his Languishments and Fears,
And every Killing Dart from thee;
Again, the speaker establishes the difference between what she gave to love—longing, desire, and care—and what her beloved gave—cruelty and the ability to wound. Here she imagines that love is a paradox in which the intense desire for someone else is precisely what leads one to ruin and despair.
Thus thou and I, the God have armed,
And set him up a Deity;
But my poor Heart alone is harmed,
Whilst thine the Victor is, and free.
The poem ends with two confessions by the speaker. She admits that both she and her lover have contributed to making Cupid a more powerful god, but that her sacrifices have only wounded her while allowing her beloved to remain "free" from pain. In this way, the poem ends on another paradox as the speaker once again draws her and her beloved together through the figure of Cupid, while at the same time underscoring how disparate their respective contributions to Cupid's triumph have been.
