Poetry Explorer- Classic Contemporary Poetry, AFFECTION AND DESIRE, by WALTER RALEIGH


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Classic and Contemporary Poetry

AFFECTION AND DESIRE, by                     Poet's Biography
First Line: Conceit begotten by the eyes
Last Line: To like, to love, to choose alike.
Alternate Author Name(s): Ralegh, Walter
Variant Title(s): A Poesy To Prove Affection Is Not Love
Subject(s): Desire; Transience; Impermanence


Conceit begotten by the eyes
Is quickly born, and quickly dies,
For while it seeks our hearts to have,
Meanwhile there reason makes his grave;
For many things the eyes approve,
Which yet the heart doth seldom love.
For as the seeds in springtime sown
Die in the ground ere they be grown,
Such is conceit, whose rooting fails,
As child that in the cradle quails,
Or else within the mother's womb
Hath his beginning, and his tomb.
Affection follows Fortune's wheels,
And soon is shaken from her heels;
For following beauty or estate,
Her liking still is turned to hate;
For all affections have their change,
And fancy only loves to range.
Desire himself runs out of breath,
And getting, doth but gain his death;
Desire, nor reason hath, nor rest,
And blind doth seldom choose the best;
Desire attained is not desire,
But as the cinders of the fire.
As ships in ports desired are drowned,
As fruit, once ripe, then falls to ground,
As flies that seek for flames are brought
To cinders by the flames they sought;
So fond desire when it attains,
The life expires, the woe remains.
And yet some poets fain would prove
Affection to be perfect love,
And that desire is of that kind,
No less a passion of the mind.
As if wild beasts and men did seek
To like, to love, to choose alike.







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