Love

The Relapse

by Thomas Stanley 1625–1678

Love

Oh, turn away those cruel eyes,
The stars of my undoing!
Or Death, in such a bright disguise,
May tempt a second wooing.

Punish their blindly impious pride,
Who dare contemn thy glory;
It was my fall that deified
Thy name, and seal'd thy story.

Yet no new sufferings can prepare
A higher praise to crown thee;
Though my first Death proclaim thee fair,
My second will unthrone thee.

Lovers will doubt thou canst entice
No other for thy fuel,
And if thou burn one victim twice,
Both think thee poor and cruel.

MLA

Stanley, Thomas. “The Relapse.” Poetry Codex, poetrycodex.com/poem/stanley/56/.

Chicago

Stanley, Thomas. “The Relapse.” Poetry Codex. https://poetrycodex.com/poem/stanley/56/.

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