APHRA BEHN: A THOUSAND MARTYRS I HAVE MADE

Aphra Behn
(1640 – 1689)

A Thousand Martyrs I Have Made

A thousand Martyrs I have made,
All sacrific’d to my desire;
A thousand Beauties have betray’d,
That languish in resistless Fire.
The untam’d Heart to hand I brought,
And fixt the wild and wandring Thought.
I never vow’d nor sigh’d in vain
But both, th false, were well receiv’d.
The Fair are pleas’d to give us pain,
And what they wish is soon believ’d.
And th I talked of Wounds and Smart,
Loves Pleasures only toucht my Heart.
Alone the Glory and the Spoil
I always Laughing bore away;
The Triumphs, without Pain or Toil,
Without the Hell, the Heav’n of Joy.
And while I thus at random rove
Despise the Fools that whine for Love.

Aphra Behn poetry
fleursdumal.nl magazine

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