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Home  »  Poetica Erotica  »  The Pipe of Love

T. R. Smith, comp. Poetica Erotica: Rare and Curious Amatory Verse. 1921–22.

The Pipe of Love

Anonymous
 
(From Songs, Comic, and Satyrical, by George Alexander Stevens, 1782)

ONE primrose time, a maiden brown,
  Wishing for what we will not say,
By side of shepherd sat her down,
  And softly ask’d him, would he play?
Mild shone the sun through red-streak morn,        5
  And glist’ning dew-drops pearled the grass;
The rustic, stretched beneath the thorn,
  Grinning, reply’d—I’ll please thee, Lass.
 
All on the green field’s turfy bed,
  Smiling, the fond one fell along;        10
The thick-leaf shade her face o’erspread.
  While, lisping, she began this song:—
“’Tis love which gives life holidays,
  And Love, I’ll always take thy part;
My shepherd’s pipe so sweetly plays,        15
  It finds the way to win my heart.
 
“The ladies dress’d with silks so fine,
  In golden chairs to visits go;
On costly dishes they can dine,
  And ev’ry night see ev’ry show;        20
Yet, if ’tis true what some folks speak,
  Those ladies lead but lonely lives;
Husbands are wilful, husbands weak,
  And seldom pipe to please their wives.”
 
Blue broke the clouds, the day yet young,        25
  The flowers fragrant fill’d the breeze;
Wanton the lass, half whisp’ring, sung,
  Yes, shepherd,—once more if you please.
Awaking from embrac’d delight,
  She heard her dame, and dar’d not stay;        30
They kiss, they part, but first—at night,
  She charg’d him, come again and play.
 
His team to geer, home hy’d the loon,
  The love-cheer’d lass blithe bore her pail,
And thus she gave her ditty tune,        35
  Tripping it deftly down the dale;
“Tho’ organ pipes play music fine,
  And fountain-pipes folks run to see;
Tho’ thirsty souls love pipes of wine,
  The pipe of love’s the pipe for me.”        40