Sir John Davies: A Lover Out of Fashion

A Lover Out of Fashion
by Sir John Davies

Faith, wench, I cannot courth thy sprightly eyes
With the base viol placed between my thighs;
I cannot lisp, nor to some fiddle sing,
Nor run upon a high-stretched minikin.
I cannot whine in puling elegies
Entombing Cupid with sad obsequies.
I am not fashioned for these amorous times
To court thy beauty with lascivious rhymes.
I cannot dally, caper, dance and sing,
Oiling my saint with supple sonneting.
I cannot cross my arms, or sigh "Ah, me -
Ah, me, forlorn!" - egregious foppery.
I cannot buss thy fist, play with thy hair,
Swearing by Jove thou art most debonaire.
Not I, by cock; but shall I tell the roundly,
Hark in thine ear: zounds, I can swive thee soundly.

Albrecht Altdorfer. Lovers. c.1530.
Museum of Fine Arts, Budapest.
Digital facial reconstruction
by Anniina Jokinen.

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