T. R. Smith, comp. Poetica Erotica: Rare and Curious Amatory Verse. 1921–22.
An Epilogue
By John Gay (16851732)(From The Wife of Bath, 1713) THE TOIL of Wedlock five times bravely past, | |
You’ll say ’twas cruel to be baulk’d at last. | |
Grown old in Cupid’s camp—long versed in arms, | |
I from my youth have known the power of charms: | |
Was I to single combat ever slow? | 5 |
Did I e’er turn my back upon the foe? | |
Is this the way old service is regarded, | |
And must the joyless widow be discarded? | |
Stint me not, Love—but while I yet survive, | |
Throw in another comfort to the five. | 10 |
Bless me! when I reflect on former days! | |
Youth can make conquest sev’ral thousand ways; | |
I danced; I sang; I smiled—I looked demure, | |
And caught each lover with a diff’rent lure: | |
In frequent wedlock joined, was woman still, | 15 |
And bowed subservient husbands to my will. | |
If reason governs man’s superior mind, | |
A ready cunning prompts the female kind. | |
Then learn from me—so, Hymen, bless your lives, | |
Preserve the just prerogative of wives; | 20 |
Know to command each look, each tear, each smile, | |
With eyes, and face, and tongue, and heart beguile: | |
Ev’n he that loves in search of game to roam, | |
By feigned reprisals may be kept at home. | |
Whenever Heav’n was pleased to take my spouse, | 25 |
I never pined for thought of former vows; | |
’Tis true, I sighed, I wept, I sobbed at first, | |
And tore my hair—as decent widows—must; | |
But soon another husband dried mine eyes: | |
My life, my dear!—supplied the place of sighs: | 30 |
Amidst continual love I’ve relished life, | |
A forward maid and a triumphant wife: | |
Then grant, O Cupid, this my latest prayer, | |
If no kind husband will relieve my care; | |
Since inclination yet outlives my face, | 35 |
At least indulge me with a coup de grâce. | |