From the Newark Evening Star, July 20, 1914. By William Shenstone.
I told my nymph, I told her true,
My fields were small, my flocks were few;
While faltering accents spoke my fear
That Flavia might not prove sincere.
Of crops destroyed by vernal cold,
And vagrant sheep that left my fold—
Of these she heard, yet bore to hear:
And is not Flavia then sincere?
How, changed by Fortune’s fickle wind,
The friends I loved became unkind,
She heard, and shed a generous tear;
And is not Flavia then sincere?
How, if she deigned my love to bless,
My Flavia must not hope for dress—
This, too, she heard, and smiled to hear.
And Flavia, sure, must be sincere.
Go shear your flocks, ye jovial swains!
Go reap the plenty of your plains;
Despoiled of all which you revere,
I know my Flavia’s love sincere.