The little Love-God lying once asleep

Song Meaning

This poem opens with a charming image: Cupid, the god of love, is fast asleep, his fiery torch – the 'heart-inflaming brand' – resting beside him. A group of nymphs, dedicated to chastity, pass by. One particularly bold nymph, described as the 'fairest votary,' picks up the brand. This act disarms the 'general of hot desire' while he slumbers, a striking contrast between potent passion and innocent, almost accidental, power. The central tension arises from the nymph's subsequent action: she quenches the potent fire in a cool well. Paradoxically, this act imbues the water with a 'heat perpetual,' transforming it into a 'healthful remedy for men diseased.' This suggests that the very act of trying to extinguish love's fire paradoxically makes its essence more potent and available, albeit in a new, medicinal form. The narrator then enters this scene, identifying himself as 'my mistress' thrall,' a captive of love. He seeks a cure at this very well, hoping to find relief from his own passionate affliction. The final couplet delivers the poem's core insight: 'Love's fire heats water, water cools not love.' This reveals the ultimate futility of trying to suppress or cure genuine love; its heat, once ignited, transforms the very means of its attempted suppression into something that can only reflect or contain its power, never truly extinguish it. The effectiveness of these lyrics lies in their witty allegorical structure and the unexpected twist on a familiar myth. By personifying love and its tools, the poem crafts a narrative that is both playful and profound. The narrator's personal plea for a cure, set against the backdrop of Cupid's disarming and the well's paradoxical heat, makes the abstract concept of love's unyielding nature feel deeply, almost painfully, personal.