Thomas Humphry Ward, ed. The English Poets. 1880–1918.rnVol. II. The Seventeenth Century: Ben Jonson to Dryden

Sir Charles Sedley (1639–1701)

Song: ‘Phillis is my only joy’

PHILLIS is my only joy

Faithless as the winds or seas,

Sometimes cunning, sometimes coy,

Yet she never fails to please;

If with a frown

I am cast down,

Phillis smiling

And beguiling

Makes me happier than before.

Though alas! too late I find

Nothing can her fancy fix,

Yet the moment she is kind

I forgive her with her tricks;

Which though I see,

I can’t get free,—

She deceiving,

I believing,—

What need lovers wish for more.