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Now you have freely given me leave to love,
How will you do?
Shall I your mirth, or ardor arouse,
Once I start to court;
Do you trouble, or disdain, or adore me too?

Each petty beauty can disdain, and I
In spite of your hate
Absent your consent can see, and perish;
Grant a grander Lot!
’Tis easy to destroy, you could form.

Therefore grant me consent to love, & love me too
Without intent
To raise, as Love's damned defiers behave
While puling Bards lament,
Renown to their beauty, from their weeping eyne.

Sadness is a pond and mirrors not bright
Thy grace's lights;
Joyes are untainted currents, your gaze look
Sullen in gloomier songs,
In happy verses they gleam luminous with praise.

Which may not allude to portray you fair
Harms, flames, and shafts,
Tempests in your brow, nets in your hayr,
Corrupting all your features,
Or else to deceive, or torment captive souls.

I shall cause your vision like dawn suns appear,
Like soft, and fayr;
One's forehead as glass even, and clear,
Whereas your dishevelled locks
Will stream like a calm Area of the Ayr.

Abundant Nature’s store (which is the Poet’s Riches)
I will expend, to embellish
Your graces, if your Source of Pleasure
Through equal gratitude
One but release, so we each other grace.

Examining the Poem's Ideas

This piece explores the relationship of passion and praise, in which the poet engages with a maiden who seeks his devotion. Conversely, he offers a reciprocal exchange of literary praise for intimate pleasures. This wording is refined, blending refined conventions with candid statements of longing.

In the stanzas, the poet spurns common motifs of one-sided passion, including grief and lamentation, arguing they obscure true beauty. The speaker favors happiness and praise to highlight the lady's qualities, assuring to portray her gaze as bright suns and her tresses as streaming breeze. The technique highlights a realistic yet clever perspective on connections.

Significant Components of the Composition

• Shared Agreement: The poem revolves on a proposal of admiration in exchange for delight, highlighting parity between the parties.
• Spurning of Traditional Themes: The narrator criticizes typical artistic techniques like sorrow and imagery of suffering, favoring positive imagery.
• Artistic Artistry: The employment of mixed meter measures and cadence demonstrates the writer's mastery in poetry, producing a graceful and captivating text.

Abundant The natural world's store (which is the Poet’s Treasure)
I shall expend, to embellish
Thy charms, if your Source of Delight
Through matching thankfulness
You but release, so we each other grace.

The verse summarizes the essential bargain, as the writer pledges to employ his creative gifts to celebrate the lady, as compensation for her receptiveness. The wording mixes spiritual hints with worldly desires, giving profundity to the poem's message.