| William Stanley Braithwaite, ed. The Book of Georgian Verse. 1909. | | | | The Complaint | | By Mark Akenside (1721–1770) |
| | | AWAY! away! | |
| Tempt me no more, insidious love: | |
| Thy soothing sway | |
| Long did my youthful bosom prove: | |
| At length thy treason is discern’d, | 5 |
| At length some dear-bought caution earn’d: | |
| Away! nor hope my riper age to move. | |
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| I know, I see | |
| Her merit. Needs it now be shown, | |
| Alas, to me? | 10 |
| How often to myself unknown, | |
| The graceful, gentle, virtuous maid | |
| Have I admir’d! How often said, | |
| What joy to call a heart like hers one’s own! | |
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| But, flattering God, | 15 |
| O squanderer of content and ease, | |
| In thy abode | |
| Will care’s rude lesson learn to please? | |
| O say, deceiver, hast thou won | |
| Proud Fortune to attend thy throne, | 20 |
| Or plac’d thy friends above her stern decrees? | | | | |
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