Give me, sweet Maid! before we part

Give me, sweet Maid! before we part, One beauteous curl of thine; And I will wear it next my heart, Twined in a wreath of mine; And should the gaudy world e’er wring A moment’s sigh from thee, That gentle ringlet, love, will bring Thy memory back to me.

When gazing on that amulet dear, Thou’lt bless my raptured sight, As when thou beauteous did’st appear In hours of soft delight. Though homage only is thy due, Thou first of womankind, Thou’lt never meet a heart so true As his thou leav’st behind.