1. e
  2. Anonymous
“There was a young lady of Niger”

There was a young lady of Niger
Who smiled as she rode on a Tiger;
  They came back from the ride
  With the lady inside,
And the smile on the face of the Tiger.*        *        *        *        *
There was a young maid who said, “Why
Can’t I...

Poet: Anonymous
Finis

My story ’s ended,
My spoon is bended:
If you don’t like it,
Go to the next door
And get it mended.
  16th Century.
Poet: Anonymous
Not One to Spare

“which shall it be? Which shall it be?”
I looked at John—John looked at me
(Dear, patient John, who loves me yet
As well as though my locks were jet);
And when I found that I must speak,
My voice seemed strangely low and weak:
“Tell me again what...

Poet: Anonymous
We Love but Few

Oh, yes, we mean all kind words that we say
        To old friends and to new;
Yet doth this truth grow clearer day by day:
        We love but few.

We love! we love! What easy words to say,
        And sweet to hear,
When sunrise splendor...

Poet: Anonymous
The White Rose

Sent by a Yorkish Lover to His Lancastrian Mistress

IF this fair rose offend thy sight,
  Placed in thy bosom bare,
’T will blush to find itself less white,
  And turn Lancastrian there.

But if thy ruby lip it spy,
  As kiss it thou mayest deign...

Poet: Anonymous
“Love not me for comely grace”

Love not me for comely grace,
For my pleasing eye or face,
Nor for any outward part,
No, nor for my constant heart;
  For those may fail or turn to ill,
    So thou and I shall sever;
Keep therefore a true woman’s eye,
And love me still,...

Poet: Anonymous
A Fiction

Attributed to “A. W.”
How Cupid Made a Nymph Wound Herself with His Arrow

IT chanced of late a shepherd’s swain,
That went to seek a strayed sheep,
Within a thicket on the plain,
Espied a dainty Nymph asleep.

Her golden hair o’erspread her face,...

Poet: Anonymous
Kissing ’s no Sin

Some say that kissing ’s a sin;
  But I think it ’s nane ava,
For kissing has wonn’d in this warld
  Since ever that there was twa.

O, if it wasna lawfu’
  Lawyers wadna allow it;
If it wasna holy,
  Ministers wadna do it.

If it...

Poet: Anonymous
The Bailiff’s Daughter of Islington

There was a youthe, and a well-beloved youthe,
  And he was a squire’s son;
He loved the bayliffes daughter deare,
  That lived in Islington.

Yet she was coye, and would not believe
  That he did love her soe,
Noe nor at any time would she...

Poet: Anonymous
“Where are you going, my pretty maid?”

“where are you going, my pretty maid?”
“I am going a-milking, sir,” she said.
“May I go with you, my pretty maid?”
“You ’re kindly welcome, sir,” she said.
“What is your father, my pretty maid?”
“My father ’s a farmer, sir,” she said.
“What is your...

Poet: Anonymous