Complaint, The

Mark Akenside

      Away! away!
  Tempt me no more, insidious Love:
      Thy soothing sway
  Long did my youthful bosom prove:
  At length thy treason is discern'd,
  At length some dear-bought caution earn'd:
Away! nor hope my riper age to move.

      I know, I see
  Her merit. Needs it now be shown,
      Alas! to me?
  How often, to myself unknown,
  The graceful, gentle, virtuous maid
  Have I admired! How often said
What joy to call a heart like hers one's own!

      But, flattering god,
  O squanderer of content and ease
      In thy abode
  Will care's rude lesson learn to please?
  O say, deceiver, hast thou won
  Proud Fortune to attend thy throne,
Or placed thy friends above her stern decrees?

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