The Works of the Late Aaron Hill ... In Four Volumes. Consisting of Letters on Various Subjects, And of Original Poems, Moral and Facetious. With An Essay on the Art of Acting |
The Valentine. |
The Works of the Late Aaron Hill | ||
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The Valentine.
Why, be it so! it matters not what nameYon river bears, since, still, it flows the same!
Whate'er I call you, this, I'm sure, I feel,
No name can speak of you, with half my zeal!
In vain, love's meaning, this or that, we call,
The comprehensive lover takes in all!
Yet, since, to custom's bent, we all incline,
You shall, to please you, be my Valentine.
And, since my charming trifler asks a gift.
The mystic value of this present, sift.
Accept these gloves, and, if they worthless seem,
Learn, thus, what pleas they bring, for your esteem.
Their spotless white prefer'd their choice, to me,
As the best emblem of your chastity.
Their smoothness may, almost, the honour win,
To represent the velvet of your skin:
Their suppleness, which, join'd with strength, you find,
Is the just fabrick of your well-mix'd mind.
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To be the type of your sweet innocence:
How, then, can I a fitter present chuse?
Or you these emblematic gloves refuse?
One stronger reason, too, my fear has found;
Women, they say, oft slight the breast they wound.
And, when dark absence shades us, from their view,
They look not after us, but seek out new:
To shun this fate, these gloves your lover sends,
That you may have him, at your fingers ends.
The Works of the Late Aaron Hill | ||