Love I'm Forbidden to Name

Forsaken my pipe and my crook, Why will you solicit my lay? No longer I sit by the brook, And carol my sorrows away. Say, Laura, what theme shall I chuse? Your praises I must not proclaim; And friendship's too cold for my muse, And love I'm forbidden to name.

For I'm but a poor simple swain, Whole flocks and whose herdsare but small, And my cottage, tho' neat on the plain, Is cover'd with thatch, and that's all: And Laura is blooming and young, Ah! would that I too were the same; My heart then might hint to my tongue What now I'm forbidden to name.

Yet deny'd my fond wish to impart, My wishes from you shall not swerve, That the shepherd who sues for your heart, By his own may your virtues deserve: With the charms which no time can destroy, With the worth which no breath can defame, May you taste of that permanent joy, Which now I'm forbidden to name.