| Poems by Women |
The Libertine
Aphra Behn. 1640-1689
A THOUSAND martyrs I have made,
All sacrificed
to my desire,
A thousand beauties have betray'd
That languish in
resistless fire:
The untamed heart to hand I brought,
And fix'd the wild
and wand'ring thought.
I never vow'd nor sigh'd in vain,
But both, tho' false, were well
received;
The fair are pleased to give us pain,
And what they wish
is soon believed:
And tho' I talk'd of wounds and smart,
Love's pleasures
only touch'd my heart.
Alone the glory and the spoil
I always laughing bore away;
The
triumphs without pain or toil,
Without the hell the heaven of
joy;
And while I thus at random rove
Despise the fools that whine for love.
From: Quiller-Couch, Arthur.
The Oxford Book of Verse. (1900)
This poet:
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This collection assembled by Jone Johnson Lewis.
Collection © 1999-2002 Jone Johnson Lewis.
Citing poems from these pages:
| Author. "Poem Title." Women's History: Poems by Women. Jone Johnson Lewis, editor. URL: (date of logon) |
