Poetry Explorer


Classic and Contemporary Poetry


PERJURY EXCUSED by JOHN SUCKLING

First Line: ALAS, IT IS TOO LATE! I CAN NO MORE
Last Line: SHOULD LOVE AGAIN, OR YOU LOVE PERJURY.

ALAS, it is too late! I can no more
Love now than I have lov'd before:
My Flora, 'tis my fate, not I;
And what you call contempt is destiny.
I am no monster, sure: I cannot show
Two hearts; one I already owe;
And I have bound myself with oaths, and vow'd
Oft'ner, I fear, than Heaven hath e'er allow'd,

That faces now should work no more on me,
Than if they could not charm, or I not see.
And shall I break them? shall I think you can
Love, if I could, so foul a perjur'd man?
Oh no, 'tis equally impossible that I
Should love again, or you love perjury.



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