Page:Oxford Book of English Verse 1250-1918.djvu/88

 ANONYMOUS

She hath left me here alone

All alone, as unknown, Who sometime did me lead with herself,

And me loved as her own.

What's the cause that she leaves you alone

And a new way doth take, That sometime did love you as her own,

And her joy did you make?

I have loved her all my youth, But now am old, as you see:

Love likes not the falling fruit, Nor the withered tree.

Know that Love is a careless child,

And forgets promise past He is blind, he is deaf when he list,

And in faith never fast.

His desire is a dureless content,

And a trustless joy; He is won with a world of despair,

And is lost with a toy.

Of womenkind such indeed is the love,

Or the word love abused, Under which many childish desires

And conceits are excused.

But true love is a durable fire,

In the mind ever burning, Never sick, never dead, never cold,

From itself never turning.

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