The poem
My senses ofttimes are oppress'd,
Oft stagnant is my blood; But when by Christel's sight I'm blest,
I feel my strength renew'd. I see her here, I see her there,
And really cannot tell The manner how, the when, the where,
The why I love her well.
If with the merest glance I view
Her black and roguish eyes, And gaze on her black eyebrows too,
My spirit upward flies. Has any one a mouth so sweet,
Such love-round cheeks as she? Ah, when the eye her beauties meet,
It ne'er content can be.
And when in airy German dance
I clasp her form divine, So quick we whirl, so quick advance,
What rapture then like mine! And when she's giddy, and feels warm,
I cradle her, poor thing, Upon my breast, and in mine arm,--
I'm then a very king!
And when she looks with love on me,
Forgetting all but this, When press'd against my bosom, she
Exchanges kiss for kiss, All through my marrow runs a thrill,
Runs e'en my foot along! I feel so well, I feel so ill,
I feel so weak, so strong!
Would that such moments ne'er would end!
The day ne'er long I find; Could I the night too with her spend,
E'en that I should not mind. If she were in mine arms but held,
To quench love's thirst I'd try; And could my torments not be quell'd,
Upon her breast would die.
1776.* ------