The Hesperides & Noble Numbers/Hesperides/To Electra (More white than whitest lilies far)
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For works with similar titles, see To Electra.
105. TO ELECTRA.
More white than whitest lilies far,
Or snow, or whitest swans you are:
More white than are the whitest creams,
Or moonlight tinselling the streams:
More white than pearls, or Juno's thigh,
Or Pelops' arm of ivory.
True, I confess, such whites as these
May me delight, not fully please;
Till like Ixion's cloud you be
White, warm, and soft to lie with me.
Pelops' arm, which Jove gave him to replace the one eaten by Ceres at the feast of Tantalus. Ixion's cloud, to which Jove, for his deception, gave the form of Juno.