IF I freely may discover What would please me in my lover, I would have her fair and witty, Savouring more of court than city; A little proud, but full of pity: Light and humorous in her toying; Oft building hopes, and soon destroying; Long, but sweet, in the enjoying; Neither too easy, nor too hard: All extremes I would have barred. She should be allowed her passions, So they were but used as fashions; Sometimes froward, and then frowning, Sometimes sickish and then swooning, Every fit with change still crowning, Purely jealous I would have her, Then only constant when I crave her: 'Tis a virtue should not save her. Thus, nor her delicates would cloy me, Neither her peevishness annoy me. | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...GOD AND MY COUNTRY by EDGAR LEE MASTERS SECOND OPINION by STEPHEN CUSHMAN JAMES WHITCOMB RILEY (FROM A WESTERNER'S POINT OF VIEW) by PAUL LAURENCE DUNBAR THE KEARSARGE (1894) by JAMES JEFFREY ROCHE SILVER ANNIVERSARY by BEULAH ALLYNE BELL LINES SUGGESTED BY A LATE OCCURRENCE by JOHN GARDINER CALKINS BRAINARD THE MADMAN AND THE LETHARGIST, AN EXAMPLE by SAMUEL TAYLOR COLERIDGE |