ONCE I was unconfined and free, Would I had been so still! Enjoying sweetest liberty, And roving at my will. But now, not master of my heart, Cupid does so decide, That two she-tyrants shall it part, And so poor me divide. Victoria's will I must obey, She acts without control: Phillis has such a taking way, She charms my very soul. Deceived by Phillis' looks and smiles, Into her snares I run; Victoria shows me all her wiles, Which yet I dare not shun. From one I fancy every kiss Has something in 't divine; And, awful, taste the balmy bliss, That joins her lips with mine. But, when the other I embrace, Though she be not a queen, Methinks 'tis sweet with such a lass To tumble on the green. Thus here you see a shared heart, But I, meanwhile, the fool; Each in it has an equal part, But neither yet the whole. Nor will it, if I right forecast, To either wholly yield; I find the time approaches fast, When both must quit the field. | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...HAILSTORM IN MAY by GERARD MANLEY HOPKINS EPISTLE TO DR. ARBUTHNOT by ALEXANDER POPE HUGH SELWYN MAUBERLEY: 7. 'SIENA MI FE' by EZRA POUND THE HEART OF THE WOMAN by WILLIAM BUTLER YEATS AN EPIGRAM ON WOMAN by PHILIP AYRES |