No - I'll endure ten thousand deaths <br />Ere any further I'll comply: <br />Oh! Sir, no man on earth that breathes <br />Had ever yet his hand so high. <br /> <br />Oh! take your sword and pierce my heart, <br />Undaunted see me meet the wound <br />Oh! will you act a Tarquin's part? <br />A second Lucrece you have found. <br /> <br />Thus to the pressing Corydon <br />Poor Florimel, unhappy maid, <br />Fearing by love to be undone, <br />In broken dying accents said; <br /> <br />Delia who held the conscious door, <br />Inspired by truth and brandy, smiled, <br />Knowing that sixteen months before <br />Our Lucrece had her second child. <br /> <br />And hark ye, Madam, cried the bawd, <br />None of your flights, your high-rope dodging; <br />Be civil here, or march abroad; <br />Oblige the 'squire, or quit the lodging. <br /> <br />Oh! have I, Florimel went on, <br />Lord what is lost my Delia's aid? <br />Where shall forsaken virtue run <br />If by her friend she is betray'd? <br /> <br />Oh! curse on empty friendship's name: <br />Lord what is all our future view? <br />Then, dear destroyer of my fame, <br />Let my last succour be to you. <br /> <br />From Delia's rage and Fortune's frown <br />A wretched lovesick maid deliver; <br />Oh! tip me but another crown, <br />Dear Sir, and make me yours for ever.<br /><br />Matthew Prior<br /><br />http://www.poemhunter.com/poem/chaste-florimel/
