| William Stanley Braithwaite, ed. The Book of Restoration Verse. 1910. | | | | The Despairing Lover | | By William Walsh (1663–1708) |
| | | DISTRACTED with care | |
| For Phillis the fair, | |
| Since nothing could move her, | |
| Poor Damon, her lover, | |
| Resolves in despair | 5 |
| No longer to languish | |
| Nor bear so much anguish; | |
| But, mad with his love, | |
| To a precipice goes, | |
| Where a leap from above | 10 |
| Would soon finish his woes. | |
| |
| When in rage he came there, | |
| Beholding how steep | |
| The sides did appear, | |
| And the bottom how deep; | 15 |
| His torments projecting, | |
| And sadly reflecting | |
| That a lover forsaken | |
| A new love may get, | |
| But a neck when once broken | 20 |
| Isn’t easily set: | |
| |
| And that he could die | |
| Whenever he would, | |
| But that he could live | |
| But as long as he could: | 25 |
| How grievous soever | |
| The torment might grow, | |
| He scorned to endeavour | |
| To finish it so; | |
| And bold, unconcerned | 30 |
| At thoughts of the pain, | |
| He calmly returned | |
| To his cottage again. | | | | |
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