Give Me Leave to Rail at You

Give me leave to rail at you, -

I ask nothing but my due:

To call you false, and then to say

You shall not keep my heart a day.

But alas! against my will

I must be your captive still.

Ah! be kinder, then, for I

Cannot change, and would not die.

Kindness has resistless charms;

All besides but weakly move;

Fiercest anger it disarms,

And clips the wings of flying love.

Beauty does the heart invade,

Kindness only can persuade;

It gilds the lover's servile chain,

And makes the slave grow pleased again.