Poetry Explorer

Classic and Contemporary Poetry

HIS LOVE ADMITS NO RIVAL by WALTER RALEIGH

First Line: SHALL I, LIKE A HERMIT, DWELL
Last Line: WHAT CARE I HOW RICH IT BE?
SHALL I, like a hermit, dwell
On a rock, or in a cell,
Calling home the smallest part
That is missing of my heart,
To bestow it where I may
Meet a rival every day?
If she undervalue me,
What care I how fair she be?

Were her tresses angel gold,
If a stranger may be bold,
Unrebuked, unafraid,
To convert them to a braid,
And with little more ado
Work them into bracelets too;
If the mine be grown so free,
What care I how rich it be?



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