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Classic and Contemporary Poetry


THE FORSAKEN MAID (1) by WILLIAM HAMMOND

First Line: GO, FICKLE MAN, AND TEACH THE MOON TO CHANGE
Last Line: AND MAKE THE CORDAGE OF HIS HEART TO CRACK.
Subject(s): LOVE - LOSS OF;

GO, fickle Man, and teach the Moon to change,
The winds to vary, the coy Bee to range:
You that despise the conquest of a town,
Render'd without resistance of one frown.

Is this of easy faith the recompense?
Is my prone love's too prodigal expense
Rewarded with disdain? Did ever dart
Rebound from such a penetrable heart?

Diana, in the service of whose shrine,
Myself to single life I will confine,
Revenge thy Votaress; for unto thee
The ruling ocean bends his azure knee.

And since he loves upon rough seas to ride,
Grant such an Adria, whose swelling tide,
And stormy tongue, may his false vessel wrack,
And make the cordage of his heart to crack.



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