T. R. Smith, comp. Poetica Erotica: Rare and Curious Amatory Verse. 1921–22.
The Reconciliation
By William Congreve (1670–1729)| FAIR Celia love pretended, | |
| And named the myrtle bower, | |
| Where Damon long attended | |
| Beyond the promised hour. | |
| At length impatient growing | 5 |
| Of anxious expectation, | |
| His heart with rage o’erflowing, | |
| He vented thus his passion. | |
| To all the sex deceitful, | |
| A long and last adieu; | 10 |
| Since women prove ungrateful | |
| As oft as man prove true. | |
| The pains they cause are many, | |
| And long and hard to bear, | |
| The joys they give (if any) | 15 |
| Few, short, and insincere. | |
| But Celia now repenting | |
| Her breach of assignation, | |
| Arrived with eyes consenting, | |
| And sparkling inclination. | 20 |
| Like Cytherea smiling, | |
| She blushed, and laid his passion; | |
| The Shepherd ceased reviling, | |
| And sang this recantation. | |
| How engaging, how endearing, | 25 |
| Is a lover’s pain and care, | |
| And what joy the nymph’s appearing | |
| After absence or despair! | |
| Women wise increase desiring, | |
| By combining kind delays, | 30 |
| And advancing or retiring, | |
| All they mean is more to please. | |