Love not, love not, ye hapless sons of clay! Hope's gayest wreaths are made of earthly flowers, -- Things that are made to fade and fall away Ere they have blossomed for a few short hours. Love not! Love not! the thing ye love may change; The rosy lip may cease to smile on you, The kindly-beaming eye grow cold and strange, The heart still warmly beat, yet not be true. Love not! Love not! the thing you love may die, -- May perish from the gay and gladsome earth; The silent stars, the blue and smiling sky, Beam o'er its grave, as once upon its birth. Love not! Love not! O warning vainly said In present hours as in years gone by! Love flings a halo round the dear one's head, Faultless, immortal, till they change or die. Love Not! | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...TO THOMAS MOORE (1) by GEORGE GORDON BYRON THE RUBAIYAT, 1879 EDITION: 12 by OMAR KHAYYAM ON HIS RETURN FROM SPAIN by THOMAS WYATT NIMROD: 2 by ANNA HEMPSTEAD BRANCH SPRING FANTASIES: 2. THE SPRING RETURNS by RICHARD EUGENE BURTON MASQUE AT THE MARRIAGE OF THE LORD HAYES: SONG. ROSES by THOMAS CAMPION TOWARDS DEMOCRACY: PART 4. TO THE EVERLASTING NOW by EDWARD CARPENTER |