Give Me Leave to Rail at You
by John Wilmot

John Wilmot's body of work includes; Poems on Several Occasions (1680), Corydon and Cloris: or The Wanton Shepherdess (1676), A Very Heroical Epistle From Artemisia in the Town to Chloe in the Country (1679), Upon Nothing (1679) and A Satyr Against Reason and Mankind (1679). There is much controversy over his talent as some critics see his popularity being due to his sexual openness and sharp tongue. Others regard him as one of the last important metaphysical poets, a group that included John Donne, George Herbert and Richard Crashaw.

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Give Me Leave to Rail at You
by John Wilmot

Give me leave to rail at you, -
I ask nothing but my due:
To call you false, and then to say
You shall not keep my heart a day.
But alas! against my will
I must be your captive still.
Ah! be kinder, then, for I
Cannot change, and would not die.

Kindness has resistless charms;
All besides but weakly move;
Fiercest anger it disarms,
And clips the wings of flying love.
Beauty does the heart invade,
Kindness only can persuade;
It gilds the lover's servile chain,
And makes the slave grow pleased again.

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Give Me Leave to Rail at You by John Wilmot