T. R. Smith, comp. Poetica Erotica: Rare and Curious Amatory Verse. 1921–22.
Do Not Ask Me, Charming Phillis
Anonymous(From The New Academy of Compliments, 1671) |
DO not ask me, charming Phillis, | |
Why I lead you here alone | |
By this bank of pinks and lilies | |
And of roses newly blown. | |
’Tis not to behold the beauty | 5 |
Of those flowers that crown the spring, | |
’Tis to—but I know my duty | |
And dare never name the thing. | |
’Tis at worst but her denying: | |
Why should I thus fearful be? | 10 |
Every minute, gently flying, | |
Smiles and says “Make use of me.” | |
What the sun does to those roses | |
While the beams play sweetly in, | |
I would—but my fear opposes | 15 |
And I dare not name the thing. | |
Yet I die if I conceal it: | |
Ask my eyes, or ask your own, | |
And if neither dare reveal it, | |
Think what lovers think alone. | 20 |
On this bank of pinks and lilies, | |
Might I speak what I would do, | |
I would—with my lovely Phillis— | |
I would—I would—ah, would you? | |