Female Poems On Several Occasions :: :: University of Virginia Library

Fantastick, wanton God, what do'st thou mean
To break my Rest? make me grow pale and lean,
And offer Sighs, and yet not know to who,
Or what's more strange, to sigh at once for two.
Tyrant! Thou know'st I was thy Slave before,
And humbly did thy Deity Adore:
I lik'd, nay, doated on my Strephon's Face;
And Sung his Praise, and thine in every place.
My Soul he singly sway'd, alone possest
My Love, and reign'd sole Monarch of my Breast:
Was not all this enough? but thou fond Boy,
Wanton with too much Pow'r, (thy Self t'employ)
Must in my Breast (oh! let it ne're be told)
Kindle new Flame, yet not put out the Old?
Young Clovis now, (though I oppose in vain)
Succeeds not Strephon, but doth with him Reign:

And I, though both I love, dare neither choose,
Lest gaining one, I shou'd the other loose:
Both Fires are equal great, Flame equal high,
Yet spight of this, a difference I descry;
One wild and raging, furiously Devours
My Peace, my Rest, and all my pleasant Hours;
The other mild and gentle, like those Fires
That melt Perfumes, creates as sweet desires:
That doth with Violence to Passion tend,
This climbs no higher than the name of Friend.
Yes, greedy Strephon, you shall ever be
My only Love, and singly Reign o're me:
My Passion you shall Monopolize,
You've such resistless Magick in your Eyes.
Though Clovis Merits yours do far transcend,
Yet I'm your Lover, and but Clovis Friend;
Blindly I love you, yet too plain discover,
He'l prove a better Friend then you a Lover.
Accept sweet Clovis of that little part
I can present of my unruly Heart.

Cou'd I command my Love, or know a way
My Stubborn, lawless Passion to sway,
My Love I wou'd not Parcel, nor bestow
A little Share, where more than all I owe:
This undeserving Strephon I wou'd teare
From my fond Breast, and place your Merit there:
But 'tis not in my Pow'r, some hidden Fate
Compels me love Him that I strive to Hate.
That Love we to our Prince or Parents pay,
I'le bear to you, and love an humble way:
I'le pay you Veneration for your Love,
And your Admirer, not your Mistress prove.
Oh! be contented with the Sacred Name
Of Friend, and an inviolable Flame
For you I will preserve, and the first place
Of all the few I with that Title grace:
And yet this Friendship doth so fast improve,
I dread, lest it in time shou'd grow to Love.