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Home  »  Poetica Erotica  »  Love’s Fancy

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

Love’s Fancy

By John Dryden (1631–1700)
 
(From An Evening’s Love, 1671)

AFTER the pangs of a desperate Lover,
When a day and night I have sighed all in vain,
Ah what a pleasure it is to discover,
In her eyes pity who causes my pain!
 
When with unkindness our Love at a stand is,        5
And both have punish’d our selves with the pain,
Ah what a pleasure the touch of her hand is!
Ah what a pleasure to touch it again!
 
When the denial comes fainter and fainter,
And her eyes gives what her tongue does deny,        10
Ah what a trembling I feel when I venture,
Ah what a trembling does usher my Joy!
 
When, with a Sigh, she accords me the blessing
And her eyes twinkle ’twixt pleasure and pain,
Ah, what a Joy ’tis beyond all expressing!        15
Ah, what a Joy to hear, Shall we again!