JOY to the bridegroom and the bride, That lie by one another's side! O, fie upon the virgin-beds, No loss is gain but maidenheads. Love, quickly send the time may be, When I shall deal my rosemary! I long to simper at a feast, To dance and kiss, and do the rest. When I shall wed, and bedded be, O, then the qualm comes over me, And tells the sweetness of a theme That I ne'er knew but in a dream. You ladies have the blessed nights, I pine in hope of such delights: And (silly damsel) only can Milk the cow's teats, and think on man, And sigh and wish to taste and prove The wholesome sillibub of love. Make haste at once: twin-brothers bear; And leave new matter for a star. Women and ships are never shown So fair, as when their sails are blown. Then when the midwife hears your moan, I'll sigh for grief that I have none. And you, dear knight, whose every kiss Reaps the full crop of Cupid's bliss, Now you have found, confess and tell That single sheets do make up hell. And then so charitable he To get a man to pity me. | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...THE COTTER'S SATURDAY NIGHT by ROBERT BURNS NO PLATONIQUE LOVE by WILLIAM CARTWRIGHT WRITTEN UNDER THE INFLUENCE OF DELIRIUM by WILLIAM COWPER SATIRES OF CIRCUMSTANCE: 11. IN THE RESTAURANT by THOMAS HARDY A FIT OF RHYME AGAINST RHYME [OR, RIME] by BEN JONSON THE LIGHT OF STARS by HENRY WADSWORTH LONGFELLOW IN MEMORIAM A.H.H.: 51 by ALFRED TENNYSON |