IF to a girl who loves us truly <br />Her mother gives instruction duly <br />In virtue, duty, and what not,-- <br />And if she hearkens ne'er a jot, <br />But with fresh-strengthen'd longing flies <br /> <br />To meet our kiss that seems to burn,-- <br /> <br />Caprice has just as much concerned <br />As love in her bold enterprise. <br /> <br />But if her mother can succeed <br />In gaining for her maxims heed, <br />And softening the girl's heart too, <br />So that she coyly shuns our view,-- <br />The heart of youth she knows but ill; <br /> <br />For when a maiden is thus stern, <br /> <br />Virtue in truth has less concern <br />In this, than an inconstant will.<br /><br />Johann Wolfgang von Goethe<br /><br />http://www.poemhunter.com/poem/motives/
