T. R. Smith, comp. Poetica Erotica: Rare and Curious Amatory Verse. 1921–22.
The Reconciliation
By William Congreve (16701729)FAIR Celia love pretended, | |
And named the myrtle bower, | |
Where Damon long attended | |
Beyond the promised hour. | |
At length impatient growing | 5 |
Of anxious expectation, | |
His heart with rage o’erflowing, | |
He vented thus his passion. | |
To all the sex deceitful, | |
A long and last adieu; | 10 |
Since women prove ungrateful | |
As oft as man prove true. | |
The pains they cause are many, | |
And long and hard to bear, | |
The joys they give (if any) | 15 |
Few, short, and insincere. | |
But Celia now repenting | |
Her breach of assignation, | |
Arrived with eyes consenting, | |
And sparkling inclination. | 20 |
Like Cytherea smiling, | |
She blushed, and laid his passion; | |
The Shepherd ceased reviling, | |
And sang this recantation. | |
How engaging, how endearing, | 25 |
Is a lover’s pain and care, | |
And what joy the nymph’s appearing | |
After absence or despair! | |
Women wise increase desiring, | |
By combining kind delays, | 30 |
And advancing or retiring, | |
All they mean is more to please. | |