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Home  »  Poetica Erotica  »  “Philander and Sylvia, a Gentle Soft Pair”

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

“Philander and Sylvia, a Gentle Soft Pair”

By Nathaniel Lee (c. 1653–1692)
 
(Music in Pills to Purge Melancholy, 1707)

PHILANDER and Sylvia, a gentle soft Pair,
Whose business was loving, and kissing their Care;
In a sweet smelling Grove went smiling along,
Till the Youth gave a vent to his Heart with his Tongue:
Ah, Sylvia! said he, (and sighed when he spoke)        5
Your cruel resolves will you never revoke?
No never, she said. How never, he cried,
’Tis the Damned that shall only that Sentence abide.
 
She turned her about to look all around,
Then blushed, and her pretty Eyes cast on the Ground;        10
She kissed his warm Cheeks, then played with his Neck,
And urged that his Reason his Passion would check:
Ah, Philander! she said, ’tis a dangerous Bliss,
Ah! never ask more and I’ll give thee a Kiss;
How never? he cried, then shivered all o’er,        15
No never, she said, then tripped to a Bower.
 
She stopped at the Wicket, he cried let me in,
She answered, I would if it were not a sin;
Heaven sees, and the Gods will chastise the poor Head
Of Philander for this; straight Trembling he said,        20
Heaven sees, I confess, but no Tell-tales are there,
She kissed him and cried, you’re an Atheist, my Dear;
And should you prove false I should never endure:
How never? he cried, and straight down he threw her.
 
Her delicate Body he clasped in his Arms,        25
He kissed her, he pressed her, heaped charms upon charms;
He cried shall I now? no never, she said,
Your Will you shall never enjoy till I’m dead:
Then as if she were dead, she slept and lay still,
Yet even in Death bequeathed him a smile:        30
When emboldened the Youth his Charms to apply,
Which he bore still about him to cure those that die.