'TIS not your beauty not your wit That can my heart obtain, For they could never conquer yet Either my breast or brain; For if you'll not prove kind to me, As true as heretofore, Henceforth I'll scorn your slave to be, And doat on you no more. Think not my fancy to o'ercome By proving thus unkind; No smoothed sigh, nor smiling frown, Can satisfy my mind. Pray let Platonics play such pranks, Such follies I deride; For love at least I will have thanks, -- And something else beside! Then open-hearted be with me, As I shall be with you, And let our actions be as free As virtue will allow. If you'll prove loving, I'll prove kind, -- If true, I'll constant be -- If Fortune chance to change your mind, I'll turn as soon as ye. Since our affections, well ye know, In equal terms do stand, 'Tis in your power to love or no, Mine's likewise in my hand. Dispense with your austerity, Inconstancy abhor, Or, by great Cupid's deity, I'll never love you more. | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...MARIANNE MOORE by WILLIAM CARLOS WILLIAMS MEDIOCRITY IN LOVE REJECTED by THOMAS CAREW DREAMS OLD AND NASCENT: NASCENT by DAVID HERBERT LAWRENCE GROWING OLD by FRANCIS LEDWIDGE ESCAPE AT BEDTIME by ROBERT LOUIS STEVENSON QUATRAIN: HERRICK by THOMAS BAILEY ALDRICH GOOD LUCK by JOHANNA AMBROSIUS THE SHRINE OF VENUS by ANTIPATER OF SIDON EMBLEMS OF LOVE: 17. THE DIFFICULT ADVENTURE by PHILIP AYRES |