T. R. Smith, comp. Poetica Erotica: Rare and Curious Amatory Verse. 1921–22.
A Song from The Distresses
By Sir William Davenant (16061668)(1639) NONE but myself my heart did keep, | |
When I on cowslips bed did sleep | |
Near to a pleasant bog: | |
Whilst you, my pretty rogue, | |
With knuckle knocking at my breast, | 5 |
Did ask for my three-corner’d guest. | |
And whispering soft, as soft as voice could be, | |
Didst say come out thou little heart to me! | |
A thousand fiends as black as soot, | |
With all their dirty dams to boot, | 10 |
Take thee, O take thee every day | |
For tempting my poor heart away. | |
This heart for joy, from me did leap, | |
And followed thee even step by step, | |
Till tired it asked to rest | 15 |
A while within thy breast. | |
’Twas thick and fat, and plump before, | |
Weighing a full pound and more, | |
But now alas, ’tis wasted to the skin, | |
And grows no bigger than the head of pin. | 20 |
A thousand fiends as black as soot, | |
With all their dirty dams to boot, | |
Take thee, O take thee every day | |
For tempting my poor heart away. | |