William Stanley Braithwaite, ed. The Book of Restoration Verse. 1910.
Song: Give me leave to rail at youJohn Wilmot, Earl of Rochester (16471680)
G
I ask nothing but my due;
To call you false, and then to say
You shall not keep my heart a day:
But, alas! against my will,
I must be your captive still.
Ah! be kinder then: for I
Cannot change, and would not die.
All besides but weakly move,
Fiercest anger it disarms,
And clips the wings of flying love.
Beauty does the heart invade,
Kindness only can persuade;
It gilds the lover’s servile chain,
And makes the slaves grow pleased again.