Grooming Romeo

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Ere dating each potential Romeo    
who comes below my balcony to sigh    
a crown of sonnets 'neath the crescent glow
the nightingales immortal beautify --    
who brings me roses sweet by any name,    
swears by his gracious self to e'er be true,    
soft kisses by the book till bright aflame,    
my passion vaults beyond the fiery blue --    
who purposes upon the blessèd night,    
his bent of love full being kindly good,    
to swift perform himself the marriage rite,    
and straightway take my sacred maidenhood --    
ere all such charms I ask him, man-to-man,    
whom he expects, once wed, to scrub the can.

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