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Home  »  Poetica Erotica  »  The Way to Win Her

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

The Way to Win Her

By Thomas D’Urfey the Younger
 
(From The Rattle, c. 1766)

YE Swains who roam from fair to fair,
  And strive each heart to bind,
Give ear to what I now declare
  The precepts of a friend.
Would you in Venus wars succeed,        5
Of bashfulness be sure take heed,
  And that’s the Way to Win her.
 
When first you meet the blooming lass,
  More ripe than peach or pear,
Let not the minutes idly pass,        10
  Of dull delays beware:
With kisses sweet your flame confess,
Her panting snowy bosom press,
  And that’s the Way to Win her.
 
But should the crafty nymph prove coy,        15
  Cry “Fye, Sir, you are rude,”
Let not those arts you[r] hopes destroy,
  By nature all are lewd.
Then shilly shally never stand,
But boldly march up sword in hand        20
  And that’s the Way to Win her.
 
And when love’s fire you have fann’d,
  And she begins to melt,
And finds her virtue can’t withstand
  The raptures she has felt;        25
Then gently force her to the sport
With resolution storm the fort,
  And that’s the Way to Win her.