Love
Love and Life
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.
Cite this poem
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/.
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