WONDER not, if I stay not here: Hurt lovers, like to wounded deer, Must shift the place; for standing still Leaves too much time to know our ill: Where there is a traitor eye, That lets in from th' enemy All that may supplant an heart, 'Tis time the chief should use some art: Who parts the object from the sense, Wisely cuts off intelligence. Oh, how quickly men must die, Should they stand all love's battery! Persinda's eyes great mischief do: So do, we know, the cannon too; But men are safe at distance still: Where they reach not, they cannot kill. Love is a fit, and soon is past; Ill diet only makes it last: Who is still looking, gazing ever, Drinks wine i' th' very height o' th' fever. | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...A PHONECALL FROM FRANK O'HARA by ANNE WALDMAN A BORDER AFFAIR by CHARLES BADGER CLARK JR. TO GOD AND IRELAND TRUE by ELLEN O'LEARY THE UNFORGIVEN by THOMAS BAILEY ALDRICH HOMUNCULUS IN PENUMBRA by GORDON BOTTOMLEY |