Oh do not die, for I shall hate All women so when thou art gone, That thee I shall not celebrate When I remember, thou wast one. But yet thou canst not die, I know, To leave this world behind, is death; But when thou from this world wilt go, The whole world vapours with thy breath. Or if, when thou, the world's soul, go'st, It stay, 'tis but thy carcase then, The fairest woman, but thy ghost, But corrupt worms, the worthiest men. Oh wrangling schools, that search what fire Shall burn this world, had none the wit Unto this knowledge to aspire, That this her fever might be it? And yet she cannot waste by this, Nor long bear this torturing wrong, For much corruption needful is To fuel such a fever long. These burning fits but meteors be, Whose matter in thee is soon spent. Thy beauty, and all parts, which are thee, Are unchangeable firmament. Yet 'twas of my mind, seizing thee, Though in it thee cannot persever. For I had rather owner be Of thee one hour, than all else ever. | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...HAPPY WIND by WILLIAM HENRY DAVIES CASABIANCA by FELICIA DOROTHEA HEMANS A TERNARIE OF LITTLES, UPON A PIPKIN OF JELLIE by ROBERT HERRICK THE HOUSE OF LIFE: 4. LOVESIGHT by DANTE GABRIEL ROSSETTI FESTE'S SONG (2), FR. TWELFTH NIGHT by WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE THE STEAM-ENGINE: CANTO 9. VISION OF THE WORLD by T. BAKER THE VALLEY OF FERN: PART 2 by BERNARD BARTON |