'Tis Seasons since the Dimpled War 1
In which we each were Conqueror
And each of us were slain
And Centuries 'twill be and more
Another Massacre before 5
So modest and so vain－
Without a Formula we fought
Each was to each the Pink Redoubt－
In which we each were Conqueror
And each of us were slain
And Centuries 'twill be and more
Another Massacre before 5
So modest and so vain－
Without a Formula we fought
Each was to each the Pink Redoubt－
(F.1551/J.1529)
[1] Dimpled:: with ripples, the result of many pimples on one's face. War:: pimples battle against one's face. Seasons:: seasons after summer, pimples' usual eruption season.
[2-3] we each, Conqueror, slain:: pimples invade and are cured.
[4] Centuries, be and more:: they will persist and expand.
[5] Massacre:: a cure of pimples completely.
[6] modest:: unpretentious in appearance, style, magnitude, or amount (OED 5); how pimples grow in one's face. vain:: devoid of sense or wisdom; foolish, silly (OED 3); how pimples affect one's face.
[7] Formula:: rule or principle.
[8] Pink Redoubt:: the shape and color of a pimple.
If, for silver or for gold,
You could melt ten thousand pimples
Into half a doxen dimples
Then your face we might behold,
Looking, doubtless, much more snugly;
Yet even then, 'twould be d—d ugly.
─ The Poetical Works of Lord Byron (1857)
I love you very much, and think very often of your dimples, and your pimples, ─ The Art of Letter-writing (1858)
Deformities or perfections — pimples or dimples — the bloom and freshness of youth and health, or the paint and blotches of age and disease, all go down alike, and all in their due proportions. ─ The New Monthly Magazine (1842)
Pimples and Freckles. The cold and damp of the spring, and the premature warm days of summer, contribute in a marked degree to the production of skin disease. ─ The What-not; or Ladies' Handy-book (1859)