Page:Oxford Book of English Verse 1250-1918.djvu/294

 S'

��GEORGE WITHER

To maidens' vows and swearing

Henceforth no credit give; You may give them the hearing,

But never them believe; They are as false as fair,

Unconstant, frail, untrue: For mine, alas^ hath left me,

Talero, lero> loo f

245 The Lover's Resolution

^HALL I, wasting in despair,

Die because a woman 's fair? Or make pale my cheeks with care 'Cause another's rosy are? Be she fairer than the day, Or the flow'ry meads in May, If she think not well of me, What care I how fair she be?

Shall my silly heart be pined 'Cause I see a woman kind? Or a well disposed nature Joined with a lovely feature^ Be she meeker, kinder, than Turtle-dove or pelican, If she be not so to me, What care I how kind she be?

Shall a woman's virtues move Me to perish for her love ? Or her well-deservings known Make me quite forget my own^ Be she with that goodness blest

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