IF Love it be not, what is this I feel? If it be Love, what Love is, fain I'd know? If good, why the effects severe and ill? If bad, why do its torments please me so? If willingly I burn, should I complain? If 'gainst my will, what helps it to lament? Oh living Death! oh most delightful pain! How comes all this, if I do not consent? If I consent, 'tis madness then to grieve; Amidst these storms, in a weak boat I'm tost Upon a dangerous sea, without relief, No help from Reason, but in Error lost. Which way in this distraction shall I turn, That freeze in Summer, and in Winter burn? | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...SPOON RIVER ANTHOLOGY: JONAS KEENE by EDGAR LEE MASTERS THE SINGER OF ONE SONG by HENRY AUGUSTIN BEERS ODE TO SIMPLICITY by WILLIAM COLLINS (1721-1759) FRINGED GENTIAN by EMILY DICKINSON EXCELSIOR by HENRY WADSWORTH LONGFELLOW CLORINDA AND DAMON by ANDREW MARVELL |