T. R. Smith, comp. Poetica Erotica: Rare and Curious Amatory Verse. 1921–22.
When I Court Thee
Anonymous(From The Cupid, 1736) WHEN I court thee, dear Molly, to grant me the bliss, | |
With a squeeze by the hand, and then with a kiss; | |
You, like an arch baggage, for ever reply, | |
In the same loving mood, can you live, Sir, and die? | |
Then you ask me, how long this same passion will last, | 5 |
And if I shan’t cool when the moment is past? | |
Such questions as these might e’en damp a beginner, | |
And must certainly puzzle an old battered sinner. | |
But to shew you, for once, how much I despise | |
To tell you, like some men, a thousand damned lies, | 10 |
My mind, dearest girl, in few Words you shall know, | |
And if, on these Terms, you think well of it, so; | |
If not, for my part, I shall ne’er take it ill, | |
For if one woman won’t, there are thousands that will. | |
That I like you at present, you never can doubt; | 15 |
For what do I take all this trouble about? | |
That my passion is real, and void of disguise, | |
You may feel my pulse; you may read in my eyes: | |
When these roll so fast, and that beats so quick, | |
The deuce must be in’t, if it’s all but a trick. | 20 |
Thy fresh ruddy lips, and thy teeth all so white, | |
Thy round tempting bubbles, which heave with delight, | |
Thy trim taper shape, and thy dear little feet, | |
Thy voice that’s so soft, and thy breath that’s so sweet; | |
Thy bright beaming eyes, and thy gay golden hair, | 25 |
Provoke a sensation too killing to bear; | |
Above or below nothing faulty is seen; | |
And, faith, I dare answer for what lies between. | |
So many rare charms surely never can cloy, | |
But Night, after Night, wou’d afford one new joy; | 30 |
Methinks, in my passion, I never cou’d vary, | |
If a thousand examples didn’t prove the contrary: | |
For, like other men, I am but flesh and blood; | |
Yet, if I’m no better, I hope I’m as good; | |
Then since, dearest Molly, any one whom you take, | 35 |
Is as likely as me, to prove false and forsake, | |
If you e’er run the hazard, let me be your man, | |
And I’ll love you as much, and as long as I can. | |
We’ll toy, ramp, and revel, we’ll bill, and we’ll coo, | |
And do everything else, which young lovers do. | 40 |
But if, upon trial, and often repenting, | |
(For the proof of the pudding’s, you know, in the eating) | |
Your passion or mine from the bias should run, | |
As in crowds of each sex it already has done; | |
Shou’d we grow cool and civil, why e’en let us part, | 45 |
Nor strive to keep up a dull passion by art; | |
For ’tis folly, ’tis nonsense, our nature to force, | |
As spurring a jade only makes her the worse: | |
At formal restraint let us neither repine, | |
But give back my Heart, and I’ll return thine. | 50 |