The mellow touch of music most doth wound

By whose tough labours, and rough hands,We rip up first, then reap our lands.Crown’d with the ears of corn, now come,And, to the pipe, sing Harvest Home.Come forth, my lord, and see the cartDrest up with all the country art.See, here a maukin, there a sheet,As spotless pure, as it is sweet:The horses, mares, and…

A little house, whose humble roofIs weather proof;Under the spars of which I lieBoth soft and dry;Where thou, my chamber for to ward,Hast set a guardOf harmless thoughts, to watch and keepMe, while I sleep.Low is my porch, as is my fate;Both void of state;And yet the threshold of my doorIs worn by th’ poor,Who…

Thy watch may stand, my minutes fly post haste;No sound calls back the year that once is past.Then, sweetest Silvia, let’s no longer stay;True love, we know, precipitates delay.Away with doubts, all scruples hence remove!No man, at one time, can be wise, and love.

Can I not woo thee, to pass byA short and sweet iniquity?I’ll cast a mist and cloud uponMy delicate transgression,So utter dark, as that no eyeShall see the hugg’d impiety.Gifts blind the wise, and bribes do pleaseAnd wind all other witnesses;And wilt not thou with gold be tied,To lay thy pen and ink aside,That in…

Tell her, too, she must not beLonger flowing, longer free,That so oft has fetter’d me.Say, if she’s fretful, I have bandsOf pearl and gold, to bind her hands;Tell her, if she struggle still,I have myrtle rods at will,For to tame, though not to kill.Take thou my blessing thus, and goAnd tell her this,–but do not…

Love is a thing so likes me,That, let her layOn me all day,I’ll kiss the hand that strikes me.I will not, I,Now blubb’ring cry,It, ah! too late repents meThat I did fallTo love at all–Since love so much contents me.No, no, I’ll beIn fetters free;While others they sit wringingTheir hands for pain,I’ll entertainThe wounds of…