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Home  »  The Oxford Book of English Verse  »  429. Rivals

Arthur Quiller-Couch, ed. 1919. The Oxford Book of English Verse: 1250–1900.

William Walsh. 1663–1708

429. Rivals

OF all the torments, all the cares, 
  With which our lives are curst; 
Of all the plagues a lover bears, 
  Sure rivals are the worst! 
By partners in each other kind         5
  Afflictions easier grow; 
In love alone we hate to find 
  Companions of our woe. 
 
Sylvia, for all the pangs you see 
  Are labouring in my breast,  10
I beg not you would favour me, 
  Would you but slight the rest! 
How great soe’er your rigours are, 
  With them alone I’ll cope; 
I can endure my own despair,  15
  But not another’s hope.