Poetry Explorer- Classic Contemporary Poetry, FAREWELL TO LOVE, by JOHN SUCKLING


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Classic and Contemporary Poetry

FAREWELL TO LOVE, by                     Poet's Biography
First Line: Well-shadow'd landskip, fare ye well
Last Line: And so I love no more.
Subject(s): Love - Complaints


WELL-SHADOW'D landskip, fare ye well:
How I have lov'd you none can tell,
At least, so well
As he that now hates more
Than e'er he lov'd before.

But, my dear nothings, take your leave:
No longer must you me deceive,
Since I perceive
All the deceit, and know
Whence the mistake did grow.

As he whose quicker eye doth trace
A false star shot to a mark'd place,
Does run apace,
And thinking it to catch,
A jelly up does snatch:

So our dull souls, tasting delight
Far off, by sense and appetite,
Think that is right
And real good; when yet
'Tis but the counterfeit.

Oh, how I glory now, that I
Have made this new discovery!
Each wanton eye
Inflam'd before: no more
Will I increase that score.

If I gaze now, 'tis but to see
What manner of death's-head 'twill be,
When it is free
From that fresh upper skin,
The gazer's joy and sin.

The gum and glist'ning which with art
And studi'd method in each part
Hangs down the hair, 't
Looks (just) as if that day
Snails there had crawl'd the hay.

The locks that curl'd o'er each ear be,
Hang like two master-worms to me,
That (as we see)
Have tasted to the rest
Two holes, where they like 't best.

A quick corse, methinks, I spy
In ev'ry woman; and mine eye,
At passing by,
Checks, and is troubled, just
As if it rose from dust.

They mortify, not heighten me;
These of my sins the glasses be:
And here I see
How I have lov'd before.
And so I love no more.





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