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Home  »  Poetica Erotica  »  Lie Alone

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

Lie Alone

Anonymous
 
(From The Percy Folio Manuscript, page 200 of MS.)

CAN any one tell what I ail?
  That I look so lean, so wan, so pale.
If I may be their Judge, I think there is none
  That can any longer lie alone.
 
Was ever woman’s case like mine?        5
  At fifteen years [I] began to pine;
So unto this plight now I am grown,
  I can, nor will, no longer lie alone.
 
If dreams be true, then Ride I can;
  I lack nothing but a man,        10
For ’tis only he can ease my moan.
  I can, nor will, &c.
 
When day is come, I wish for night;
  When night is come, I wish for light;
Thus all my time I sigh and moan.        15
  I can, nor will, &c.
 
To woo the first, ashamed am I;
  For and if he ask I will not deny;
For the case is such I must needs have one.
  I can, nor will, &c.        20
 
Therefore my prayer, it shall be still
  That I may have one that will work my will;
For it is only he can ease me anon,
  And therefore I’ll no longer lie alone.