Dryden

 

 

 

Chloe found Amyntas lying,
2               All in tears, upon the plain,
3            Sighing to himself, and crying,
4               Wretched I, to love in vain!
5            Kiss me, dear, before my dying;
6               Kiss me once, and ease my pain.

II


7            Sighing to himself, and crying,
8               Wretched I, to love in vain!
9            Ever scorning, and denying
10             To reward your faithful swain.
11          Kiss me, dear, before my dying;
12             Kiss me once, and ease my pain.

III


13          Ever scorning, and denying
14             To reward your faithful swain.---
15          Chloe, laughing at his crying,
16             Told him, that he loved in vain.
17          Kiss me, dear, before my dying;
18             Kiss me once, and ease my pain.

IV


19          Chloe, laughing at his crying,
20             Told him, that he loved in vain;
21          But, repenting, and complying,
22             When he kissed, she kissed again:
23          Kissed him up, before his dying;
24             Kissed him up, and eased his pain.


From  Marriage a la Mode

 

                                I

WHILST Alexis lay prest

     In her Arms he lov’d best,

With his hands round her neck,

And his head on her breast,

He found the fierce pleasure too hasty to stay,

And his soul in the tempest just flying away.

 

2

 

When Caelia saw this;

With a sigh, and a kiss,

She cry'd, Oh my dear, I am robb'd of my bliss; '

Tis unkind to your Love, and unfaithfully done,

To leave me behind you, and die all alone.

 

                                            3

The youth, though in haste,

And breathing his last,

In pity dy’d slowly, while she dy'd more fast;

Till at length she cry’d, Now, my dear, now let us go,

Now die, my Alexis, and I well die too.

 

4 Thus intranc'd they did lie,

Til1 Alexis did try

To recover new Breath, that again he might die:

Then often they di'd; but the more they did so,

The Nymph dy'd more quick, and the Shepherd more slow.