Classic Poem

RECITATIVE

Fair Caelia Love pretended,
And nam'd the Myrtle Bow'r,
Where Damon long attended
Beyond the promis'd Hour.
At length impatient growing
Of anxious Expectation,
His Heart with Rage o'erflowing,
He vented thus his Passion.

ODE

To all the Sex deceitful,
A long and last Adieu;
Since Women prove ungrateful,
As oft as Men prove true.
The Pains they cause are many,
And long and hard to bear,
The Joys they give (if any)
Few, short, and unsincere.

RECITATUVE

But Celia now repenting
Her breach of Assignation,
Arriv'd with Eyes consenting
And sparkling Inclination.
Like Citherea smiling,
She blush'd, and laid his Passion;
The Shepherd ceas'd reviling,
And sung this Recantation.

PALINODE

How engaging, how endearing,
Is a Lover's Pain and Care!
And what Joy the Nymph's appearing,
After Absence or Despair!
Women wife increase Desiring,
By contriving kind Delays;
And advancing, or resiring
All they mean is more to please.