| John Dryden (1631–1700). The Poems of John Dryden. 1913. | | | | Songs, Odes, and Lyrical Pieces | | A Song to a Fair Young Lady going out of Town in the Spring |
| | 1 ASK 1 not the Cause, why sullen Spring | |
| So long delays her flow’rs to bear; | |
| Why warbling Birds forget to sing, | |
| And Winter Storms invert the Year? | |
| Chloris is gone; and Fate provides | 5 |
| To make it Spring, where she resides. | |
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2 Chloris is gone, the Cruel Fair; | |
| She cast not back a pitying Eye: | |
| But left her Lover in Despair, | |
| To sigh, to languish, and to die: | 10 |
| Ah, how can those fair Eyes endure | |
| To give the wounds they will not cure! | |
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3 Great God of Love, why hast thou made | |
| A Face that can all Hearts command, | |
| That all Religions can invade, | 15 |
| And change the Laws of ev’ry Land? | |
| Where thou hadst plac’d such Pow’r before, | |
| Thou shou’dst have made her Mercy more. | |
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4 When Chloris to the Temple comes, | |
| Adoring Crowds before her Fall; | 20 |
| She can restore the Dead from Tombs, | |
| And every Life but mine recall. | |
| I only am by Love design’d | |
| To be the Victim for Mankind. | |
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