The Hundred Best Poems (lyrical) in the English language - second series/Stanzas on Woman
33.
Stanzas on Woman.
WHEN lovely woman stoops to folly
And finds too late that men betray,
What charm can soothe her melancholy,
What art can wash her guilt away?
The only art her guilt to cover,
To hide her shame from ev'ry eye,
To give repentance to her lover,
And wring his bosom—is to die.
1816 Edition.