The Given Love

I’LL on; for what should hinder me

From loving and enjoying thee?

Thou canst not those exceptions make,

Which vulgar, sordid mortals take-

That my fate’s too mean and low;

‘T were pity I should love thee so,

If that dull cause could hinder me

In loving and enjoying thee.

It does not me a whit displease,

That the rich all honours seize;

That you all titles make your own,

Are valiant, learned, wise, alone:

But, if you claim o’er women too

The power which over men ye do;

If you alone must lovers be;

For that, Sirs, you must pardon me.

Rather than lose what does so near

Concern my life and being here,

I’ll some such crooked ways invent,

As you, or your forefathers, went:

I’ll flatter or oppose the king,

Turn Puritan, or any thing;

I’ll force my mind to arts so new:

Grow rich, and love as well as you.

But rather thus let me remain,

As man in paradise did reign;

When perfect love did so agree

With innocence and poverty,

Adam did no jointure give;

Himself was jointure to his Eve:

Untouch’d with avarice yet, or pride,

The rib came freely back t’ his side.

A curse upon the man who taught

Women, that love was to be bought!

Rather dote only on your gold,

And that with greedy avarice hold;

For, if woman too submit

To that, and sell herself for it,

Fond lover! you a mistress have

Of her that’s but your fellow-slave.

What should those poets mean of old

That made their God to woo in gold?

Of all men, sure, they had no cause

To bind love to such costly laws;

And yet I scarcely blame them now;

For who, alas! would not allow,

That women should such gifts receive,

Could they, as he, be what they give?

If thou, my dear, thyself shouldst prize,

Alas! what value would suffice?

The Spaniard could not do’t, though he

Should to both Indies jointure thee.

Thy beauties therefore wrong will take,

If thou shouldst any bargain make;

To give all, will befit thee well;

But not at under-rates to sell.

Bestow thy beauty then on me,

Freely, as nature gave’t to thee;

‘T is an exploded popish thought

To think that heaven may be bought.

Prayers, hymns, and praises, are the way,

And those my thankful Muse shall pay:

Thy body, in my verse enshrin’d,

Shall grow immortal as thy mind.

I’ll fix thy title next in fame

To Sacharissa’s well-sung name.

So faithfully will I declare

What all thy wondrous beauties are,

That when, at the last great assize,

All women shall together rise,

Men straight shall cast their eyes on thee

And know at first that thou art she.

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External links

Bat’s Poetry Page – more poetry by Fledermaus

Talking Writing Monster’s Page –

Batty Writing – the bat’s idle chatter, thoughts, ideas and observations, all original, all fresh

Poems in English 

• Robert Burns: Behold, My Love, How Green The Groves: by Robert Burns
• Robert Burns: The Winter Of Life: by Robert Burns
• Robert Burns: The Lover’s Morning Salute To His Mistress: by Robert Burns
• Robert Burns: Inconstancy In Love: by Robert Burns
• Robert Burns: How Lang And Dreary Is The Night: by Robert Burns
• Robert Burns: Saw Ye My Dear, My Philly: by Robert Burns
• Robert Burns: Esteem For Chloris: by Robert Burns
• Robert Burns: Pretty Peg: by Robert Burns
• Robert Burns: On Andrew Turner: by Robert Burns
• Robert Burns: On An Innkeeper Nicknamed “The Marquis”: by Robert Burns
• Robert Burns: On A Swearing Coxcomb: by Robert Burns
• Robert Burns: On A Suicide: by Robert Burns
• Robert Burns: On Hearing It Asserted Falsehood: is expressed in the Rev. Dr. Babington’s very looks. by Robert Burns
• Robert Burns: On Being Shewn A Beautiful Country Seat : Belonging to the same Laird [not quite so wise as Solomon]. by Robert Burns
• Robert Burns: Epigram On A Country Laird,: not quite so wise as Solomon. by Robert Burns
• Robert Burns: On Seeing Mrs. Kemble In Yarico: by Robert Burns
• Robert Burns: On Chloris: Requesting me to give her a Spring of Blossomed Thorn. by Robert Burns
• Robert Burns: To The Beautiful Miss Eliza J-N: On her Principles of Liberty and Equality. by Robert Burns
• Robert Burns: To Dr. Maxwell: On Miss Jessy Staig’s recovery. by Robert Burns
• Robert Burns: She Says She Loes Me Best Of A’: by Robert Burns

More external links (open in a new tab):

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Yandex – the best search engine for searches in Russian (and the best overall image search engine, in any language, anywhere)

Qwant – the best search engine for searches in French, German as well as Romance and Germanic languages.

Ecosia – a search engine that supposedly… plants trees

Duckduckgo – the real alternative and a search engine that actually works. Without much censorship or partisan politics.

Yahoo– yes, it’s still around, amazingly, miraculously, incredibly, but now it seems to be powered by Bing.

 

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