Strive Not, Vain Lover
I.
Strive not, vain lover, to be fine;
Thy silk’s the silk-worm’s, and not thine:
You lessen to a fly your mistriss’ thought,
To think it may be in a cobweb caught.
What, though her thin transparent lawn
Thy heart in a strong net hath drawn:
Not all the arms the god of fire ere made
Can the soft bulwarks of nak’d love invade.
II.
Be truly fine, then, and yourself dress
In her fair soul’s immac’late glass.
Then by reflection you may have the bliss
Perhaps to see what a true fineness is;
When all your gawderies will fit
Those only that are poor in wit.
She that a clinquant outside doth adore,
Dotes on a gilded statue and no more.
Otras obras de Richard Lovelace...
The Triumphs of Philamore and Amoret. to the Noblest of Our Youth and Best of Friends, Charles Cotton, Esquire. Being at Berisford, at His House in Straffordshire. From London. a Poem
Sir, your sad absence I complain,… Her long-hid spring, that gave her… Who now her cheerful aromatick hea… Shrinks in her cold and dismal wid… Whilst the false sun her lover dot…
