Cordula's Web. In Memoriam.
Im Memoriam. Copyright © 2004 Cordula's Web. Gallery 22
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Give Me Leave To Rail At You

John Wilmot

Give me leave to rail at you,
I ask nothing but my due:
To call you false, and then to say
You shall not keep my heart a day.

But alas! against my will
I must be your captive still.
Ah! be kinder, then, for I
Cannot change, and would not die.

Kindness has resistless charms;
All besides but weakly move;
Fiercest anger it disarms,
And clips the wings of flying love.

Beauty does the heart invade,
Kindness only can persuade;
It gilds the lover's servile chain,
And makes the slave grow pleased again.

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