Before I part with gifts so fair,
The hostage I shall want,
Are truth and love, as pledges that
Your hand you soon will grant.
Then let’s to church without delay,
No longer let us linger,
That I may place this sacred tie
Upon your pretty finger.
This day for love and joy was made,
Then let no gloom its brightness shade;
In sweetest notes the birds rejoice,
And youths and maidens make their choice.
To me, then, love, thy heart resign,
And be my chosen Valentine.
What mortal on thee without rapture can gaze,
Whose form so angelic such graces displays?
Such virtue, such beauty, so noble an air,
Our heart must enslave, and our senses ensnare
O cease, then, dear maid, so enchanting to be,
O list to thy lover who doats upon thee.
When evening sets in, when the world is at rest,
Calm reflection we most can enjoy:
While the stillness around us at once gives a zest,
To the thoughts which no objects decoy.
Then how sweet ’tis to muse on the time that hath
If in love, or in friendship ’twere past;
To remember each look, every word that was said,
By the fair one we love to the last.
Though all else be ebecrless, though cares intervene
Still we feel Love our hearts can inspire;
Shall I then forget the bright days we have seen,
Or the fair one I love and admire?
