Poetry Explorer- Classic Contemporary Poetry, TO ONE SAYING SHE [OR, HIS MISTRESS] WAS OLD, by JAMES SHIRLEY


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Classic and Contemporary Poetry

TO ONE SAYING SHE [OR, HIS MISTRESS] WAS OLD, by                 Poet Analysis     Poet's Biography
First Line: Tell me not time hath played the thief
Last Line: Thieves do not always thrive, I see!
Subject(s): Aging; Beauty; Love


TELL me not Time hath played the thief
Upon her beauty! My belief
Might have been mocked, and I had been
A heretic, if I had not seen
My Mistress is still fair to me!
And now I all those graces see,
That did adorn her virgin brow;
Her eye hath the same flame in't now,
To kill or save, the chemist's fire
Equally burns; so my desire;
Not any rosebud less within
Her cheek, the same snow on her chin;
Her voice, that heavenly music bears,
First charmed my soul, and in my ears
Did leave it trembling; her lips are
The selfsame lovely twins they were:
After so many years, I miss
No flower in all my Paradise.
Time, I despise thy rage, and thee;
Thieves do not always thrive, I see!





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