Love bade me hope, and I obeyed; <br />Phyllis continued still unkind: <br />Then you may e'en despair, he said, <br />In vain I strive to change her mind. <br /> <br />Honour's got in, and keeps her heart, <br />Durst he but venture once abroad, <br />In my own right I'd take your part, <br />And show myself the mightier God. <br /> <br />This huffing Honour domineers <br />In breasts alone where he has place: <br />But if true generous Love appears, <br />The hector dares not show his face. <br /> <br />Let me still languish and complain, <br />Be most unhumanly denied: <br />I have some pleasure in my pain, <br />She can have none with all her pride. <br /> <br />I fall a sacrifice to Love, <br />She lives a wretch for Honour's sake; <br />Whose tyrant does most cruel prove, <br />The difference is not hard to make. <br /> <br />Consider real Honour then, <br />You'll find hers cannot be the same; <br />'Tis noble confidence in men, <br />In women, mean, mistrustful shame.<br /><br />John Wilmot<br /><br />http://www.poemhunter.com/poem/a-woman-s-honour/
