A Bit Of Previous

A sequel to a well-known poem

Go Madam, go! Desire hath long since fled,

Too long it takes to get thee into bed.

’Tis wearying to wait and watch thee wrest

With complex vestments just to get undressed.

A thousand miles or more a man might pace

’Ere thou thy spangled breastplate could unlace

And none, I trow, would be content to stay

While you with all these undergarments play.

‘Disrobe!’ I bade thee, ‘Shed thy girdle first.’

Yet even that request now seemeth cursed,

For that alone, by taking such an age,

Did stir in me a sense of rising rage;

Small wonder that I fidget so and fret

While still thou wearest gown and coronet.

Go madam, go! ’Tis clearly not to be

That thee, uncovered, shall I ever see.

(‘To His Mistress Going to Bed’)