| J. C. Squire, ed. A Book of Women’s Verse. 1921. | | | | A Wish for Her Retreat | | By Anne, Countess of Winchilsea (1660–1720) |
| | | GIVE me there (since Heaven has shown | |
| It was not good to be alone) | |
| A partner suited to my mind, | |
| Solitary, pleas’d and kind; | |
| Who, partially, may something see | 5 |
| Preferr’d to all the world in me; | |
| Slighting, by my humble side, | |
| Fame and Splendour, Wealth and Pride. | |
| When but two the Earth possest, | |
| ’Twas then happiest days, and best; | 10 |
| They by bus’ness, nor by wars, | |
| They by no domestick cares, | |
| From each other e’er were drawn, | |
| But in some grove, or flow’ry lawn, | |
| Spent the swiftly flying time, | 15 |
| Spent their own and Nature’s prime, | |
| In Love; that only passion given | |
| To perfect Man, whilst friends with Heaven. | | | | |
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