| T. R. Smith, comp. Poetica Erotica: Rare and Curious Amatory Verse. 1921–22. | | | | To Flora Drest | | Anonymous |
| | (From The Musical Miscellany, c. 1729) |
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WHY art thou drest, my lovely Maid! | |
| In Gold and Gems, and rich Brocade, | |
| When Gold, and Gems, and rich Brocade, | |
| Conceal thy Charms, my lovely Maid! | |
| Why spends’t thou all this Time and Care, | 5 |
| To form thy Shape, to fold thy Hair? | |
| Thy Shape unbraced, thy flowing Hair, | |
| More beauteous are without thy Care. | |
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| Woulds’t thou, indeed, be finely drest? | |
| Put by this Robe which hides thy Breast: | 10 |
| Unbind thy Hair, and bare thy Breast, | |
| Thou art, my Charmer! finely drest. | |
| Remove these Vestments all away, | |
| Which like dark Clouds obscure the Day: | |
| O! let them not obscure thy Day: | 15 |
| Remove them all, my Fair! away! | |
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| Then shining forth adorn’d with Charms, | |
| Ah! let me fold thee in my Arms! | |
| Transported, fold thee in my Arms! | |
| And gaze and wonder at thy Charms. | 20 | | |
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