Leave me, simple shepherd, leave me,
Drag no more a hopeless chain;
I cannot like, nor would deceive thee,
Love the maid that loves again. C ORIN .

Tho more gentle nymphs surround me,
Kindly pitying what I feel,
Only you have power to wound me,
Sylvia , only you can heal. Sylvia .

C ORIN , cease this idle teazing,
Love that's forc'd is harsh and sour;
If the lover be displeasing,
To persist disgusts the more. C ORIN .

'Tis in vain, in vain to fly me,
Sylvia , I will still pursue;
Twenty thousand times deny me,
I will kneel and weep anew. Sylvia .

C UPID ne'er shall make me languish,
I was born averse to love;
Lovers sighs, and tears, and anguish,
Mirth and pastime to me prove. C ORIN .

Still I vow with patient duty
Thus to meet your proudest scorn;
You for unrelenting beauty,
I for constant love was born.

But the fates had not consented,
Since they both did fickle prove;
Of her scorn the maid repented,
And the shepherd — of his love.