 | Poems (1791) |  |
SWEET WILLIAM.
BALLAD I.
I
By a prattling stream, on a Midsummer's eve,Where the woodbine and jess'mine their boughs interweave,
Fair Flora, I cry'd, to my harbour repair,
For I must have a chaplet for sweet William's hair.
II
She brought me the vi'let that grows on the hill,The vale-dwelling lilly, and gilded jonquill:
But such languid odours how cou'd I approve,
Just warm from the lips of the lad that I love.
51
III
She brought me, his faith and his truth to display,The undying myrtle, and ever-green bay:
But why these to me, who've his constancy known?
And Billy has laurels enough of his own.
IV
The next was a gift that I could not contemn,For she brought me two roses that grew on a stem:
Of the dear nuptial tie they stood emblems confest,
So I kiss'd 'em, and press'd 'em quite close to my breast.
V
She brought me a sun-flow'r—This, fair one's, your due;For it once was a maiden, and love-sick like you:
Oh! give it me quick, to my shepherd I'll run,
As true to his flame, as this flow'r to the sun.
| Poems (1791) | |