Poem by William Somerville

The Coquet

When tortur’d by the cruel Fair,
And almost mad with wild Despair,
	My fleeting Spirits rove;
One cordial Glance restores her Slave,
Redeems me from the gapeing Grave,
	And sooths my Soul to Love.

Thus in a Sea of Doubt I’m toss’d,
Now sunk, now thrown upon the Coast;
	What Wretch can long endure
Such odd, perplexing Pangs as these,
When neither mortal the Disease,
	Nor yet compleat the Cure?

Proud Tyrant! since to save, or kill,
Depends on thy capricious Will,
	This milder Sentence give;
Reverse my strange, untoward Fate,
Oh! let me perish by thy Hate,
	Or by thy Kindness live.

1. The Superannuated Lover
2. Hudibras and Milton Reconciled
3. On Miranda's Leaving the Country
4. Advice to the Ladies
5. The Hip

William Davenant The Coquet ("TIS, in good truth, a most wonderful thing")

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