I'M notified, fair neighbor mine, By one of our profession, That this -- the Term of Valentine -- Is Cupid's Special Session. Permit me, therefore, to report Myself, on this occasion, Quite ready to proceed to Court, And File my Declaration. I've an Attachment for you, too; A legal and a strong one; Oh, yield unto the Process, do; Nor let it be a long one! No scowling bailiff lurks behind; He'd be a precious noddy, Who, failing to Arrest the mind, Should go and Take the Body! For though a form like yours might throw A sculptor in distraction; I couldn't serve a Capias, -- no, I'd scorn so base an action! Oh, do not tell me of your youth, And turn away demurely; For though you're very young, in truth, You're not an Infant surely! The Case is everything to me; My heart is love's own tissue. Don't plead a Dilatory Plea; Let's have the General Issue! Or, since you've really no Defense, Why not, this present Session, Omitting all absurd pretense, Give judgment by Confession? So shall you be my lawful wife; And I -- your faithful lover -- Be Tenant of your heart for Life, With no Remainder over! | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...SPRING ON BROADWAY by LOUIS UNTERMEYER THE SUPPLIANT by EDMUND WILLIAM GOSSE IMPROMPTU TO LADY WINCHILSEA by ALEXANDER POPE VIRGILS GNAT: DEDICATORY SONNET by EDMUND SPENSER TO THE MOCKINGBIRD by RICHARD HENRY WILDE ODES: BOOK 2: ODE 11. TO THE COUNTRY GENTLEMEN OF ENGLAND by MARK AKENSIDE |