ONCE I was unconfined and free, Would I had been so still! Enjoying sweetest liberty, And roving at my will. But now, not master of my heart, Cupid does so decide, That two she-tyrants shall it part, And so poor me divide. Victoria's will I must obey, She acts without control: Phillis has such a taking way, She charms my very soul. Deceived by Phillis' looks and smiles, Into her snares I run; Victoria shows me all her wiles, Which yet I dare not shun. From one I fancy every kiss Has something in 't divine; And, awful, taste the balmy bliss, That joins her lips with mine. But, when the other I embrace, Though she be not a queen, Methinks 'tis sweet with such a lass To tumble on the green. Thus here you see a shared heart, But I, meanwhile, the fool; Each in it has an equal part, But neither yet the whole. Nor will it, if I right forecast, To either wholly yield; I find the time approaches fast, When both must quit the field. | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...A LITTLE DUTCH GARDEN by HARRIET WHITNEY DURBIN LA BELLA BONA ROBA by RICHARD LOVELACE ODE FOR THE AMERICAN DEAD IN ASIA by THOMAS MCGRATH UNDERWOODS: BOOK 1: 21. REQUIEM by ROBERT LOUIS STEVENSON THE TRIUMPH OF TIME by ALGERNON CHARLES SWINBURNE SONNET ON CATHERINE WORDSWORTH by WILLIAM WORDSWORTH A THOUGHT FOR MOTHER'S DAY by MAMIE COLLINS BARRY |