Pastiche Poem by Jan Struther

PASTICHE
MAID, would you keep your heart
Smooth as unprinted snow?
Are you afraid to know
The turmoil and the smart,
The shocks and hazards of
The long campaign of love?

Then loiter if you will
With Corin in the lane;
Dance with him on the green
Or picnic on the hill:
Such pranks need leave no less
Your spirit's singleness.

But share with him no toil,
Art, enterprise or trade;
Labour not by his side
At bench, loom, desk or soil:
For wit nor will can check
That aphrodisiac,
Nor true heart long withstand
Shared craft of brain or hand.