Classic Poem

DEAR M ADAM ,
I your mercy crave
For my poor namesake John , your slave,
Behold him abject at your feet;
Now is your triumph most complete:
A helpless victim see he lies,
Half slain by your all-conquering eyes!
Those eyes which like the mid-day sun,
None can with safety look upon.

To you (oh! take it in good part)
He gave the maid-hood of his heart,
Untouched by any former love;
Sure some compassion this might move;
His heart, which ne'er before was sway'd,
You like a cullender have made,
And 'less your power and mercy's equal,
Indeed, dear ma'am, I dread the sequel;
For love, beyond all other ills,
Despises juleps, drops, and pills.

If wedlock may be deemed a pleasure,
You cann't too soon possess the treasure!
Consider then the loss of time,
And snatch the roses in their prime;
Teaze not the man who'll grace your house,
As a young cat torments a mouse:
Seeming regardless of the prize,
Puss slily turns aside her eyes;
But should he run — 'tis all in vain,
For, snap! she brings him back again!
Again the panting wretch she mumbles,
Again she tosses him, and tumbles! —

But have you, madam, never seen,
When in the wall a hole hath been,
The pris'ner seize a lucky minute,
And in a trice hath slipp'd within it,
Leaving behind the tyrant puss,
To purr and claw and make a fuss?

Pardon, I pray, the facts I state,
Nor think I mean t' insinuate
Your captive mouse will run away,
And you the part of puss must play!
O, no such thing! what I fear most,
Is, that the mouse, thus plagued and tost,
Should by such usage be quite wasted,
Before one morsel has been tasted;
For what are all such tricks at last,
But schemes to heighten the repast?
Or what avails it thus to treat,
And take him when there's nought to eat?
Rather than hazard such mishap,
Entice him kindly to the trap:
You won't, I trust, the thought disparage,
I mean, dear ma'am, the trap of marriage!
A trap, I'm sure he cann't withstand,
If you but lay the bait — your hand!

As I've his welfare much at heart,
Don't blame me that I take his part;
He my companion was, and chearful,
And not of any female fearful,
He joked at love, or seemed to doubt it,
And laughed at those who talk'd about it:
But hear him as a child now mutter;
Like one that's lost its bread and butter!
Since thoughts of you first filled his head,
His heart as heavy is as lead,
And if, dear ma'am, you do'nt befriend him,
Love's fatal power will surely end him.

But fearing this may be intrusion,
I'll bring my subject to conclusion,
Begging you will not mock his sighing,
And keep him thus whole years a dying!
" Whole years!" — Excuse my freely speaking,
Such torture, why a month — a week in?
Caress, or kill him quite in one day,
Obliging thus your servant,
John GAY .