Poetry Explorer- Classic Contemporary Poetry, THE PICTURE; SET BY MR. LAWES, by CHARLES COTTON


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Classic and Contemporary Poetry

THE PICTURE; SET BY MR. LAWES, by                 Poet Analysis     Poet's Biography
First Line: How, chloris, can I e'er believe
Last Line: My wand'ring eyes to thee at home.
Subject(s): Composers; Lawes, Henry (1596-1662); Love


I

How, Chloris, can I e'er believe
The vows of woman-kind,
Since yours I faithless find,
So faithless, that you can refuse
To him your shadow, t' whom, to choose,
Your swore you could the substance give?

II

Is't not enough that I must go
Into another clime,
Where feather-footed Time
May turn my hopes into despair,
My downy youth to bristled hair,
But that you add this torment too?

III

Perchance you fear idolatry
Would make the image prove
A woman fit for love;
Or give it such a soul as shone
Through fond Pigmalion's living stone,
That so I might abandon thee.

IV

O no! 'twould fill my Genius' room,
My honest one, that when
Frailty would love agen,
And, falt'ring, with new objects burn,
Then, Sweetest, would thy picture turn
My wand'ring eyes to thee at home.





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