Poetry Explorer- Classic Contemporary Poetry, BALLAD TO THE TUNE - 'I WOULD GIVE TWENTY POUND', by PATRICK CAREY


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Classic and Contemporary Poetry

BALLAD TO THE TUNE - 'I WOULD GIVE TWENTY POUND', by                     Poet's Biography
First Line: There's no woman, but I'm caught
Last Line: And for th' asking she shall have it.
Subject(s): Love - Nature Of


I

THERE'S no woman, but I'm caught
Whilst she looks with kind eyes on me;
If I love not then, the fault
Is unjustly cast upon me:
They are to be blam'd, not I,
It with freedom still I hover;
Were I us'd but courteously
I should soon become a lover.

II

Did I any one exclude
For her dye, or for her feature,
I should grant myself a rude
Mannerless, hard-hearted creature:
But since I except 'gainst none
By whom I am not contemned,
If I can't find such an one,
Pray tell, who's to be condemned?

III

Not by frowns, but smiles, my heart,
(I declare 't) is to be chained;
On fair terms with it I'll part,
But by foul 'twill ne'er be gained:
Take then other tasks in hand
You, who lour, and scorn to crave it;
But who's kind shall it command,
And for th' asking she shall have it.





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