THE
Languishing Shepherd:
OR,
The Loss of Fair Lillia Lamented.
To an excellent new Tune much in request.
Licensed according to Order.
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I.
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WHen my Kids and my Lambs I treated,
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and to the Mountains did invite,
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With clean Straw my Hurdle Sheated,
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where I might repose all night:
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Then free from Care I liv'd at Pleasure,
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while my Lillea took her flight,
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I at the Loss of such a Treasure,
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all my other, all my other all my other Flocks did slight.
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II.
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Through the Woods and the Groves I rambled
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yet could never quit my fear;
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Birds me thought on every Bramble,
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whistle Lillea in my Ear;
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Yet I upon my heedless Rover,
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never once could fix my Eye,
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Which makes me now so often over,
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Lillia, Lillia, Lillia, Lillia, Lillia, Lillia, Lillia cry.
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III.
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Many long and tedious Hours
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in the silent Groves I spend,
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Searching all the shady Bowers
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for my true entire Friend,
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Yet alas! I cannot find her,
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whose sweet Charms I do adore,
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But am left in Grief behind her,
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sighing, sighing, sighing, sighing, sighing
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sighing evermore.
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IV.
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Never was a sweeter Creature
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than my pleasant charming Fair;
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Could I in the Valleys meet her,
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then adieu to all Despair:
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Sorrows soon would be dispersed,
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like a Mist, or Morning Cloud,
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And a thousand Joys rehearsed,
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for she's Loyal, she's Loyal, just and true to what she vow'd.
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V.
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Some ill Fortune hath attended
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my beloved Lillia,
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By which means her Life is ended,
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or so long she'd never stay
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From her Love who feels the Anguish
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which my Heart do's now endure;
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She's too good to let me languish,
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for her pleasant charming Beauty I am sure.
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VI.
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I have lost as great a Treasure,
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as the World did ever own;
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Riches, Honour, Peace, and Pleasure,
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these all remain in her alone:
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Kings in Diadems may Glory,
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let me but her Charms behold;
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Crowns I count but Transitory,
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Love is better, Love is better, Love is better worth than Gold.
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VII.
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Yet the Fates deny the Blessing
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of the fairest Beauty bright,
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Which is far beyond expressing
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all my Joys have taken flight:
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Sure some fatal stroke is given
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that has kept my Love from me,
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Therefore if she be not living,
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let me, let me, let me, let me, let me dye as well as she.
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