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Home  »  Poetica Erotica  »  As I Sat at My Spinning-Wheel

T. R. Smith, comp. Poetica Erotica: Rare and Curious Amatory Verse. 1921–22.

As I Sat at My Spinning-Wheel

Anonymous
 
(A Song from Pills to Purge Melancholy, 1719)

AS I sat at my Spinning-Wheel,
  A bonny Lad there passed by,
I kenned him round, and I liked him weel,
  Geud Feth he had a bonny Eye:
My Heart new panting, ’gan to feel,        5
But still I turned my Spinning-Wheel.
 
Most gracefully he did appear,
  As he my Presence did draw near,
And round about my slender waist
He clasped his Arms, and me embraced:        10
  To kiss my Hand he down did kneel,
  As I sat at my Spinning-Wheel.
 
My Milk white hand he did extol,
And praised my Fingers long and small,
And said, there was no Lady fair,        15
That ever could with me compare:
  Those pleasing Words my Heart did feel,
  But still I turned my Spinning-Wheel.
 
Altho’ I seemingly did chide,
Yet he would never be denied,        20
But did declare his Love the more,
Until my Heart was Wounded sore;
  That I my Love could scarce conceal,
  But yet I turned my Spinning-Wheel.
 
As for my Yarn, my Rock and Reel,        25
And after that my Spinning-Wheel,
He bid me leave them all with Speed
And gang with him yonder Mead:
  My panting Heart strange Flames did feel,
  Yet still I turned my Spinning-Wheel.        30
 
He stopped and gazed, and blithely said,
Now Speed the Wheel, my bonny Maid,
But if thou’st to the Hay-Cock go,
I’ll learn thee better Work I trow,
  Geud Feth, I lik’d him passing weel,        35
  But still I turned my Spinning-Wheel.
 
He lowly veiled his Bonnet oft,
And sweetly kist my Lips so soft;
Yet still between each Honey Kiss,
He urged me on to farther Bliss:        40
  ’Till I resistless Fire did feel,
  Then let alone my Spinning-Wheel.
 
Among the pleasant Cocks of Hay,
Then with my bonny Lad I lay,
What Damsel ever could deny,        45
A Youth with such a Charming Eye?
  The Pleasure I cannot reveal,
  It far surpast the Spinning-Wheel.