Love
Not to love.
From Hesperides (1648)
HE that will not love, must be
My Scholar, and learn this of me:
There be in Love as many feares,
As the Summers Corne has eares:
Sighs, and sobs, and sorrowes more
Then the sand, that makes the shore:
Freezing cold, and firie heats,
Fainting swoones, and deadly sweats;
Now an Ague, then a Fever,
Both tormenting Lovers ever.
Wod'st thou know, besides all these,
How hard a woman 'tis to please?
How crosse, how sullen, and how soone
She shifts and changes like the Moone.
How false, how hollow she's in heart;
And how she is her owne least part:
How high she's priz'd, and worth but small;
Little thou't love, or not at all.
Cite this poem
MLA
Herrick, Robert. “Not to love.” Poetry Codex, poetrycodex.com/poem/herrick/255/.
Chicago
Herrick, Robert. “Not to love.” Poetry Codex. https://poetrycodex.com/poem/herrick/255/.
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