The Shamrock or, Hibernian Cresses. A Collection of Poems, Songs, Epigrams, &c. Latin as well as English, The Original Production of Ireland. To which are subjoined thoughts on the prevailing system of school education, respecting young ladies as well as gentlemen: with practical proposals for a reformation [by Samuel Whyte] |
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 | The Shamrock |  |
ÆNIGMA I.
Inscribed to Miss LATOUCHE.
You'll scarce believe it, yet, by Nature,
I am a quiet, sober Creature;
Content to live and die at Home,
And never form'd a Wish to roam,
Like Birds in Cage to spend my Breath,
And beat, and beat myself to Death:
But Woman, Woman is my Ruin,
She takes Delight in my Undoing.
O! it would melt a very Stone,
To hear what I have undergone!
Though blind myself, I fall a Prize,
Struck thro' and thro' by her bright Eyes.
When once she has caught me in her Net,
I am thrown neglected at her Feet;
There, without Mercy, roll in Pain,
And yet am pleas'd to bear my Chain.
On Hopes I live, on Looks I feed,
And jump, and burn, and burst, and bleed.
I am a quiet, sober Creature;
Content to live and die at Home,
And never form'd a Wish to roam,
474
And beat, and beat myself to Death:
But Woman, Woman is my Ruin,
She takes Delight in my Undoing.
O! it would melt a very Stone,
To hear what I have undergone!
Though blind myself, I fall a Prize,
Struck thro' and thro' by her bright Eyes.
When once she has caught me in her Net,
I am thrown neglected at her Feet;
There, without Mercy, roll in Pain,
And yet am pleas'd to bear my Chain.
On Hopes I live, on Looks I feed,
And jump, and burn, and burst, and bleed.
But if I once again get free,
I learn to prize my Liberty.
Like Bees, from Fair to Fair I range;
Like her, I learn each Hour to change;
With her own Arts I learn to vex,
And boldly fly at all the Sex.
I learn to prize my Liberty.
Like Bees, from Fair to Fair I range;
Like her, I learn each Hour to change;
With her own Arts I learn to vex,
And boldly fly at all the Sex.
| The Shamrock | |