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Classic and Contemporary Poetry


TO PRUE: A VILLANELLE by ALANSON BIGELOW HOUGHTON

First Line: DO YOU LOVE ME, MISTRESS PRUE?
Last Line: EVES, NOT LIPS, SPEAK EVER TRUE.
Subject(s): COURTSHIP;

DO you love me, Mistress Prue?
Answer with your shy, soft eyes, --
Eyes, not lips, speak ever true.

That I loved, you surely knew;
That I loved is no surprise, --
Do you love me, Mistress Prue?

Tell me, sweetheart, if you do!
Look up once, and sorrow flies, --
Eyes, not lips, speak ever true.

Love is old, yet always new;
Time to kill it vainly tries, --
Do you love me, Mistress Prue?

Eyes that mock the sea's deep blue,
Eyes that plead like tender sighs, --
Eyes, not lips, speak ever true.

Ah! I know you love me, Prue,
Love-lights laugh down in your eyes, --
Do you love me, Mistress Prue?
Eves, not lips, speak ever true.



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