To His Sweetheart, To Save Her Soul Poem by Jan Struther

You say you love me, but you still deny
Yourself to me, who would your beauty share.
The world commends your virtue: yet I swear
You are a greater libertine than I.
For never did a man in woman's thrall
So burn to take his love, and suage his fever,
As you (who love me) long to stay for ever
Hungry and chaste, tortured and virginal.
Then, sweet, if all desire is of the devil
And they who yield to it are heaven-cursed,
Indulge no more your most compelling thirst-
Come, lie with me, and choose the lesser evil:
For you (who love me) must thrice wanton be
To lust so fiercely after chastity.