Poetry Explorer

Classic and Contemporary Poetry

EXCUSE OF ABSENCE by THOMAS CAREW

Poet Analysis

First Line: YOU WILL ASK, PERHAPS, WHEREFORE I STAY
Last Line: TO WANDER FAR FROM YOU, THE CENTRE.
Subject(s): ABSENCE; SEPARATION; ISOLATION;
You will ask, perhaps, wherefore I stay,
Loving so much, so long away---
O do not think 'twas I did part,
It was my body, not my heart;
For, like a compass, on your love
One foot is fix'd, and cannot move:
Th' other may follow the blind guide
Of giddy Fortune, but not slide
Beyond your service, nor dare venter
To wander far from you, the centre.



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