Tell me! If you found me in a mart In Asia, where mild-faced camels pass, Bearing slave-girls from far-off Circass; Tell me now, yes truly, from your heart! As we stood there, shamefaced, meek, You, a prince, espy me, Bartered for by merchants sleek; Would you buy me? Tell me! If you found me where men sin In cities; day's weary toil, at night, Changing for unchaste, unblest delight; Tell me as you hope my soul to win! For what others offered you, Love, could you refuse me? Spite of all that they might do, Would you choose me? Dainty women, if they passed your way Or stopped? Queens and ladies, fair to see, Looked at you, and smiled imploringly? Tell me, for I cannot longer stay! Would you close your precious eyes Tight to their vanity, Shapely breasts and marble thighs, And dream of me? | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...AN EPITAPH, INTENDED FOR HIMSELF by JAMES BEATTIE A BOOK OF AIRS: SONG 6. CORRINA by THOMAS CAMPION IN DISPRAISE OF THE MOON by MARY ELIZABETH COLERIDGE AFTER A VISIT by PAUL LAURENCE DUNBAR THE OLD VIOLIN by MAURICE FRANCIS EGAN ON MILTON'S PARADISE LOST by ANDREW MARVELL THE LAMP [LAMPE] by HENRY VAUGHAN TO SWEET MEAT, SOUR SAUCE; AN IMITATION OF THEOCRITUS OR ANACREON by PHILIP AYRES |