| William Stanley Braithwaite, ed. The Book of Restoration Verse. 1910. | | | | Song: ‘Why, lovely charmer, tell me, why’ | | By Sir Richard Steele (1672–1729) |
| | | WHY, lovely charmer, tell me, why | |
| So very kind, and yet so shy? | |
| Why does that cold forbiding air | |
| Give damps of sorrow and despair? | |
| Or why that smile my soul subdue; | 5 |
| And kindle up my flames anew? | |
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| In vain you strive, with all your art, | |
| By turns, to freeze, and fire my heart; | |
| When I behold a face so fair, | |
| So sweet a look, so soft an air; | 10 |
| My ravished soul is charmed all o’er; | |
| I cannot love thee less, or more. | | | | |
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