Love

Fair, if you expect admiring

by Thomas Campion 1567–1620

From A Book of Airs (1601)

Love

Fair, if you expect admiring;
Sweet, if you['d] provoke desiring;
Grace dear love with kind reuniting!
Fond, but if thy light be blindness;
False, if thou affect unkindness;
Fly both love and love's delighting!
Then when hope is lost and love is scorned,
I'll bury my desires, and quench the fires that ever yet in vain have burned.

Fates, if you rule lovers' fortune;
Stars, if men your powers importune;
Yield relief by your relenting!
Time, if sorrow be not endless,
Hope made vain, and pity friendless,
Help to ease my long lamenting!
But if griefs remain still unredressed,
I'll fly to her again, and sue for pity to renew my hopes distressed.

✦ ✦ ✦

A Book of Airs (1601)

MLA

Campion, Thomas. “Fair, if you expect admiring.” Poetry Codex, poetrycodex.com/poem/campion/17/.

Chicago

Campion, Thomas. “Fair, if you expect admiring.” Poetry Codex. https://poetrycodex.com/poem/campion/17/.

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