Poetry Explorer- Classic Contemporary Poetry, CONSTANCY, by SIDNEY GODOLPHIN


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Classic and Contemporary Poetry

CONSTANCY, by                 Poet Analysis     Poet's Biography
First Line: Love unreturn'd, howe'er the flame
Last Line: The most wisht monument.
Subject(s): Fidelity; Faithfulness; Constancy


LOVE unreturn'd, howe'er the flame
Seem great and pure, may still admit
Degrees of more, and a new name
And strength acceptance gives to it.

Till then, by honour there's no tie
Laid on it, that it ne'er decay,
The mind's last act by constancy
Ought to be seal'd, and not the way.

Did aught but Love's perfection bind
Who should assign at what degree
Of Love, faith ought to fix the mind
And in what limits we are free.

So hardly in a single heart
Is any love conceived
That fancy still supplies one part,
Supposing it received.

When undeceiv'd such love retires
'Tis but a model lost,
A draught of what might be expires
Built but at fancy's cost.

Yet if the rain one tear move,
From Pity not Love sent,
Though not a palace, it will prove
The most wisht monument.





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