Classic Poem

Fair, and soft, and gay, and young,
All charm! she played, she danced, she sung!
There was no way to 'scape the dart,
No care could guard the lover's heart.
" Ah! why," cried I, and dropped a tear
(Adoring, yet despairing e'er
To have her to myself alone),
" Was so much sweetness made for one?"

But growing bolder, in her ear
I in soft numbers told my care:
She heard, and raised me from her feet,
And seemed to glow with equal heat.
Like heaven's, too mighty to express,
My joys could but be known by guess.
" Ah, fool!" said I, " what have I done,
To wish her made for more than one?"

But long she had not been in view,
Before her eyes their beams withdrew:
Ere I had reckoned half her charms,
She sank into another's arms.
But she, that once could faithless be,
Will favour him no more than me:
He, too, will find he is undone,
And that she was not made for one.

Fair, and soft, and gay, and young,
All charm! she played, she danced, she sung!
There was no way to 'scape the dart,
No care could guard the lover's heart.
" Ah! why," cried I, and dropped a tear
(Adoring, yet despairing e'er
To have her to myself alone),
" Was so much sweetness made for one?"

But growing bolder, in her ear
I in soft numbers told my care:
She heard, and raised me from her feet,
And seemed to glow with equal heat.
Like heaven's, too mighty to express,
My joys could but be known by guess.
" Ah, fool!" said I, " what have I done,
To wish her made for more than one?"

But long she had not been in view,
Before her eyes their beams withdrew:
Ere I had reckoned half her charms,
She sank into another's arms.
But she, that once could faithless be,
Will favour him no more than me:
He, too, will find he is undone,
And that she was not made for one.