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BALLAD TO THE TUNE OF BOBBING JOAN, by                     Poet's Biography
First Line: I ne'er yet saw a lovely creature
Last Line: Troth, I shall court the next I see.
Subject(s): Absence; Courtship


I

I NE'ER yet saw a lovely creature
(Were she a widow, maid, or wife)
But straight within my breast her feature
Was painted, strangely to the life:
If out of sight
(Though ne'er so bright)
I straightways lost her picture quite.

II

It still was mine, and others' wonder
To see me court so eagerly;
Yet soon as absence did me sunder
From those I lov'd, quite cur'd was I.
The reason was
That my breast has
Instead of heart, a looking-glass.

III

And as those forms which lately shined
I' th' glass, are easily defac'd;
Those beauties so, which were enshrined
Within my breast, are soon displac'd:
Both seem as they
Would ne'er away;
Yet last, but whilst the lookers stay.

IV

Then let no woman think that ever
In absence I shall constant prove;
Till some occasion does us sever
I can, as true as any, love:
But when that we
Once parted be,
Troth, I shall court the next I see.





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