Classic Poem

I.

Phillis! pray give me now your Heart,
Or mine to me now back again resign;
If you with yours will never part,
It is but just, I shou'd again have mine;

II.

Be more kind, or be more severe,
Your Coldness and Indifference I hate,
My living still 'twixt Hope and Fear;
An Open Foe's less hurtful than a Cheat;

III.

And Doubt is the worst sort of State,
Impatient, faithful Lovers can endure;
When once we know but our Love's Fate,
Our very Pain does Ease for us procure;

IV.

In our Despair we Comfort find,
Which puts us out of Hope, Desire, or Fear;
Or does dispose both Heart and Mind,
What we can't 'scape, by bearing best to bear;

V.

Owning your Scorn, were Courtesie,
Kindness, no true Love for me to pretend;
Since 'tis the lesser Injury,
To wrong a Foe, than 'tis to cheat a Friend;

VI.

So Quiet, Ease I cou'd regain,
No matter by what Course or Means it were;
When your Reprieve gives Hopes in vain,
Giving Despair, less cruel you'd appear;

VII.

Then bid me live, or let me die,
And say, that me you more will love, or hate;
Since sudden Death's less Cruelty,
Than dubious Grace, for which in Pain we wait.