AWAY! away! <br />Tempt me no more, insidious Love: <br />Thy soothing sway <br />Long did my youthful bosom prove: <br />At length thy treason is discern'd, <br />At length some dear-bought caution earn'd: <br />Away! nor hope my riper age to move. <br /> <br />I know, I see <br />Her merit. Needs it now be shown, <br />Alas! to me? <br />How often, to myself unknown, <br />The graceful, gentle, virtuous maid <br />Have I admired! How often said-- <br />What joy to call a heart like hers one's own! <br /> <br />But, flattering god, <br />O squanderer of content and ease <br />In thy abode <br />Will care's rude lesson learn to please? <br />O say, deceiver, hast thou won <br />Proud Fortune to attend thy throne, <br />Or placed thy friends above her stern decrees?<br /><br />Mark Akenside<br /><br />http://www.poemhunter.com/poem/the-complaint/
