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Home  »  Poetica Erotica  »  O Nay! O Nay! Not Yet

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

O Nay! O Nay! Not Yet

Anonymous
 
(From The Percy Folio Manuscript, 1620–50)

A YOUNG man walking alone,
  Abroad to take the air,
It was his chance for him to meet
  A maiden passing fair.
Desiring her of courtesy        5
  Awhile with him down sit;
She answered him most modestly,
  “O nay! O nay! not yet!”
 
“Forty crowns I will give thee,
  Sweetheart, in good red gold,        10
If that I may thy favour have,
  Thy beauty to behold.”
And then she spoke now readily
  And with a ready wit,
“I will not sell my honesty        15
  O nay! O nay! not yet!”
 
“Gold and money is but dross,
  And worldly vanity;
I do esteem more of the loss
  Of my virginity!        20
But dost thou think I am so mad,
  Or of so little wit
As for to sell my honesty?
  O nay! O nay! not yet!”
 
The way to win a woman’s heart,        25
  Is quickly to be brief,
And give her that with-in few words
  That will soon ease her grief.
“O fye! O fye! away!” she’ll cry,
  That loves a dainty bit,        30
“I will not yield to Cupid’s laws!
  O nay! O nay! not yet!”