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Home  »  Poetica Erotica  »  Upon a Lady’s Being Disappointed by a Young Scotch Lord

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

Upon a Lady’s Being Disappointed by a Young Scotch Lord

By Thomas Brown (1662–1704)
 
(1704)

YOUNG Caledon has all the charms
  That can engage the fair;
A tongue that every heart disarms,
  A soft bewitching air.
But see what fate attends a drone!        5
  He loves what he takes,
And when the fortress is his own,
  His victory forsakes.
 
At her expense this fatal truth
  Melissa late did prove,        10
Neither her beauty nor her youth
  Could long secure his love:
The lavish hero fired too fast,
  So vain was his ambition,
That when three poor attacks were past,        15
  He wanted ammunition.
 
Were it inconstancy alone,
  Art might the youth reclaim;
But when love’s vital oil is gone,
  What can revive the flame?        20
Ye Gods, by whom my hopes are curst,
  Once grant me what I pray,
Give Caledon less heat at first,
  Or better Funds to pay.