I. HAD Phyllis neither charms, nor graces More than the rest of women wear, Levell'd by Fate with common faces, Yet Damon could esteem her fair. II. Good-natur'd Love can soon forgive Those petty injuries of Time, And all th' affronts of years impute To her misfortune, not her crime. III. Wedlock puts Love upon the rack, Makes it confess 'tis still the same In icy age, as it appear'd At first when all was lively flame. IV. If Hymen's slaves, whose ears are bored, Thus constant by compulsion be, Why should not choice endear us more Than them their hard necessity? V. Phyllis! 'tis true, thy glass does run, But since mine too keeps equal pace, My silver hairs may trouble thee, As much as me thy ruin'd face. VI. Then let us constant be as Heaven, Whose laws inviolable are, Not like those rambling meteors there That foretell ills, and disappear. VII. So shall a pleasing calm attend Our long uneasy destiny, So shall our loves and lives expire, From storms and tempests ever free. | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...THE TEMERAIRE by HERMAN MELVILLE THE HOUSE OF LIFE: 69. AUTUMN IDLENESS by DANTE GABRIEL ROSSETTI ASTROPHEL AND STELLA: 31 by PHILIP SIDNEY HARMOSAN by RICHARD CHENEVIX TRENCH YARROW VISITED by WILLIAM WORDSWORTH JESUS - THE CONQUEROR RENOWNED by BERNARD OF CLAIRVAUX PSALM 1. THE RIGHTEOUS AND THE WICKED CONTRASTED by OLD TESTAMENT BIBLE |