Thus I said to my heart in a pet th' other day (Song I)

THUS I said to my heart in a pet th' other day,
"I had rather be hang'd than go moping this way;
"No throbbings no wishes your moments employ,
"But you sleep in my breast without motion or joy.

"When Cloe perplex'd me 't was sweeter by half,
"And at Thais's wiles I could oftentimes laugh;
"Your burnings and akings I strove not to cure
"Tho' one was a jilt and the other a whore.

"When I walk'd up the Mall or stroll'd thro'the street
"Not a petticoat brush'd me but then you could beat,
"Or if bang went the hoop against corner or post
"In the magical round you were sure to be lost.

"But now if a nymph goes as naked as Eve,
"Like Adam unfallen you never perceive,
"Or the seat of delight if the tippet should hide
"You tempt not my fingers to draw it aside.

"Is it caution or dread or the frost of old age
"That inclines you with beauty no more to engage?
"Tell me quickly the cause, for it makes me quite mad
"In the summer's gay season to see you so sad."

"Have a care," quoth my Heart, "how you tempt me to stray;
"He that hunts down a woman must run a d—d way;
"Like a hare she can wind, or hold out with the fox,
"And secure in the chase her pursuers she mocks.

"For Cloe I burnt with an innocent flame,
"And beat to the musick that breath'd out her name;
"Three summers flew over the castles I built,
"And beheld me a fool and my goddess a jilt.

"Next Thais the wanton my wishes employ'd,
"And the kind one repair'd what the cruel destroy'd;
"Like Shadrach I liv'd in a furnace of fire,
"But unlike him was scorch'd and compell'd to retire.

"Recruited once more I forgot all my pain,
"And was jilted, and burnt, and bedevil'd again;
"Not a petticoat fring'd or the heel of a shoe
"Ever pass'd you by daylight but at it I flew.

"Thus jilted, and wounded, and burnt to a coal,
"For rest I retreated again to be whole,
"But your eyes ever open to lead me astray
"Have beheld a new face and command me away.

"But remember in whatever flames I may burn
"'Twill be solly to ask for or wish my return;
"Neither Thais nor Cloe again shall inflame,
"But a nymph more provoking than all you can name."

This said with a bound from my bosom he flew;
O Phillis! these eyes saw him posting to you:
Enslav'd by your wit he grows fond of his chain,
And vows I shall never possess him again.