Oh do not die, for I shall hate All women so when thou art gone, That thee I shall not celebrate When I remember, thou wast one. But yet thou canst not die, I know, To leave this world behind, is death; But when thou from this world wilt go, The whole world vapours with thy breath. Or if, when thou, the world's soul, go'st, It stay, 'tis but thy carcase then, The fairest woman, but thy ghost, But corrupt worms, the worthiest men. Oh wrangling schools, that search what fire Shall burn this world, had none the wit Unto this knowledge to aspire, That this her fever might be it? And yet she cannot waste by this, Nor long bear this torturing wrong, For much corruption needful is To fuel such a fever long. These burning fits but meteors be, Whose matter in thee is soon spent. Thy beauty, and all parts, which are thee, Are unchangeable firmament. Yet 'twas of my mind, seizing thee, Though in it thee cannot persever. For I had rather owner be Of thee one hour, than all else ever. | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...FREEDOM AND LOVE by THOMAS CAMPBELL SALLY SIMKIN'S LAMENT by THOMAS HOOD THE ORCHARD PIT by DANTE GABRIEL ROSSETTI COMPLAINS OF THE COURT by PHILIP AYRES TO MR. BOWRING ON HIS POETICAL TRANSLATIONS by ANNA LETITIA BARBAULD THE CONCLUSION OF A LETTER TO THE REV. MR. C --. by MARY BARBER TWO HELPERS by MARY RUSSELL BARTLETT FOR THE QUEEN MOTHER by JOHN BETJEMAN PSALM 19. [THE HEAVENS ABOVE AND THE LAW WITHIN] by OLD TESTAMENT BIBLE |