T. R. Smith, comp. Poetica Erotica: Rare and Curious Amatory Verse. 1921–22.
I Care Not for These Ladies
By Thomas Campion (1567–1620)(From a Book of Ayres, 1601) I CARE not for these ladies, | |
| That must be wooed and prayed: | |
| Give me kind Amarillis, | |
| The wanton country maid. | |
| Nature art disdaineth, | 5 |
| Her beauty is her own, | |
| Her when we court and kiss, | |
| She cries, “Forsooth, let go!” | |
| But when we come where comfort is, | |
| She never will say “No!” | 10 |
| If I love Amarillis, | |
| She gives me fruit and flowers: | |
| But if we love these ladies, | |
| We must give golden showers. | |
| Give them gold, that sell love, | 15 |
| Give me the nut-brown lass, | |
| Who, when we court and kiss, | |
| She cries, “Forsooth, let go!” | |
| But when we come where comfort is, | |
| She never will say “No!” | 20 |
| These ladies must have pillows, | |
| And beds by strangers wrought; | |
| Give me a bower of willows, | |
| Of moss and leaves unbought, | |
| And fresh Amarillis, | 25 |
| With milk and honey fed; | |
| Who, when we court and kiss, | |
| She cries, “Forsooth, let go!” | |
| But when we come where comfort is, | |
| She never will say “No!” | 30 |