To that dear nymph, whose pow'rful name <br />Does every throbbing nerve inflame <br />(As the soft sound I low repeat, <br />My pulse unequal measures beat), <br />Whose eyes I never more shall see, <br />That once so sweetly shin'd on thee; <br />Go, gentle wind! and kindly bear <br />My tender wishes to the fair. <br />Hoh, ho, ho, &c. <br /> <br />Amidst her pleasures let her know <br />The secret anguish of my woe, <br />The midnight pang, the jealous hell, <br />Does in this tortur'd bosom dwell: <br />While laughing she, and full of play, <br />Is with her young companions gay; <br />Or hearing in some fragrant bower <br />Her lover's sigh, and beauty's power. <br />Hoh, ho, ho, &c. <br /> <br />Lost and forgotten may I be! <br />Oh may no pitying thought of me <br />Disturb the joy that she may find, <br />When love is crown'd and fortune kind: <br />May that bless'd swain (whom yet I hate) <br />Be proud of his distinguish'd fate: <br />Each happy night be like the first; <br />And he be bless'd as I am curs'd. <br />Hoh, ho, ho, &c. <br /> <br />While in these pathless woods I stray, <br />And lose my solitary way; <br />Talk to the stars, to trees complain, <br />And tell the senseless words my pain: <br />But madness spares the sacred name, <br />Nor dares the hidden wound proclaim; <br />Which, secret rankling, sure and slow, <br />Shall close in endless peace my woe. <br />Hoh, ho, ho, &c. <br /> <br />When this fond heart shall ache no more, <br />And all the ills of life are o'er <br />(If gods by lovers' prayers are mov'd, <br />As ev'ry god in heaven has lov'd); <br />Instead of bright Elysian joys, <br />That unknown something in the skies, <br />In recompense of all my pain, <br />The only heaven I'd obtain, <br />May I, the guardian of her charms, <br />Preserve that paradise from harms. <br />Hoh, ho, ho, &c.<br /><br />Lady Mary Wortley Montagu<br /><br />http://www.poemhunter.com/poem/a-ballad/
