Poetry Explorer- Classic Contemporary Poetry, TO PHILASTER, by SARAH FYGE EGERTON



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Classic and Contemporary Poetry

TO PHILASTER, by                     Poet's Biography
First Line: Go, perjured youth, and court what nymph you please
Last Line: For the first ardour of thy soul was all possessed by me.
Alternate Author Name(s): Field, Edward, Mrs.; Fyge, Sarah
Subject(s): Unfaithfulness; Infidelity; Adultery; Inconstancy


Go, perjured youth, and court what nymph you please,
Your passion now is but a dull disease:
With worn-out sighs deceive some listening ear,
Who longs to know how 'tis and what men swear;
She'll think they're new from you, 'cause so to her.
Poor cozened fool, she ne'er can know the charms
Of being first encircled in thy arms,
When all love's joys were innocent and gay,
As fresh and blooming as the newborn day.
Your charms did then with native sweetness flow:
The forced-kind complaisance you now bestow
Is but a false, agreeable design,
But you had innocence when you were mine,
And all your words, and smiles, and looks divine.
How proud, methinks, thy mistress does appear
In sullied clothes, which I'd no longer wear;
Her bosom too with withered flowers dressed,
Which lost their sweets in my first-chosen breast.
Perjured, imposing youth, cheat who you will,
Supply defect of truth with amorous skill:
Yet thy address must needs insipid be,
For the first ardour of thy soul was all possessed by me.





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