T. R. Smith, comp. Poetica Erotica: Rare and Curious Amatory Verse. 1921–22.
Who Is to Marry Me?
By Thomas Campion (1567–1620)| YOUNG and simple though I am, | |
| I have heard of Cupid’s name; | |
| Guess I can, what thing it is, | |
| Men desire when they do kiss. | |
| Smoke can never burn, they say; | 5 |
| But the flame that follows, may. | |
| I am not so foul or fair, | |
| To be proud, or to despair; | |
| Yet my lips have oft observ’d, | |
| Men that kiss them, press them hard, | 10 |
| As glad lovers use to do | |
| When their new met loves they woo. | |
| Faith, ’tis but a foolish mind; | |
| Yet methinks, a heat I find, | |
| Like thirst longing, that doth bide | 15 |
| Ever on my weaker side, | |
| Where they say my heart doth move: | |
| Venus grant it be not love. | |
| If it be, alas what then, | |
| Were not Women made for Men? | 20 |
| As good ’tis, a thing were past, | |
| That must needs be done at last, | |
| Roses that are overblown, | |
| Grow less sweet, then fall alone. | |
| Yet no Churl nor silken Gull, | 25 |
| Shall my maiden blossom pull, | |
| Who shall not, I soon can tell; | |
| Who shall, I would I could as well. | |
| This I know who ere he be, | |
| Love he must, or flatter me. | 30 |
| Married wives may take and leave; | |
| Where they please, refuse, receive; | |
| We poor Maids must not do so; | |
| We must answer yea with no; | |
| We seem strange, coy, and curst, | 35 |
| And fain we would do, if we durst. | |