Love

Love and Life

by John Wilmot, Earl of Rochester 1647–1680

From Works (1718)

Love

All my past Life is mine no more,
The flying Hours are gone:
Like transitory Dreams giv'n o'er,
Whose Images are kept in store,
By Memory alone.

The Time that is to come is not;
How can it then be mine?
The present Moment's all my Lot;
And that, as fast as it is got,
Phillis, is only thine.

Then talk not of Inconstancy,
False Hearts, and broken Vows;
If I, by Miracle, can be
This live long Minute true to thee,
'Tis all that Heav'n allows.

MLA

Wilmot, John, Earl of Rochester. “Love and Life.” Poetry Codex, poetrycodex.com/poem/rochester/18/.

Chicago

Wilmot, John, Earl of Rochester. “Love and Life.” Poetry Codex. https://poetrycodex.com/poem/rochester/18/.

Read this poem with the Codex →

More by John Wilmot, Earl of Rochester