Classic Poem

Delay ? Alas there cannot be
To Love a greater Tyrannie:
Those cruel Beauties that have slain
Their Votaries by their disdain,
Or studied torments, sharp and witty,
Will be recorded for their pitty,
And after-ages be misled
To think them kind, when this is spred.
Of deaths the speediest is despair,
Delayes the slowest tortures are;
Thy cruelty at once destroyes,
But Expectation starves my Joyes.
Time and Delay , may bring me past
The power of Love to cure, at last;
And shouldst thou wish to ease my pain,
Thy pitty might be lent in vain;
Or if thou hast decreed, that I
Must fall beneath thy cruelty,
O kill me soon! Thou wilt expresse
More Mercy, ev'n in shewing lesse.