A Apostacy Of One, And But One Lady

Richard Lovelace

                    I.
That frantick errour I adore,
  And am confirm'd the earth turns round;
Now satisfied o're and o're,
  As rowling waves, so flowes the ground,
And as her neighbour reels the shore:
  Finde such a woman says she loves;
  She's that fixt heav'n, which never moves.

                    II.
In marble, steele, or porphyrie,
  Who carves or stampes his armes or face,
Lookes it by rust or storme must dye:
  This womans love no time can raze,
Hardned like ice in the sun's eye,
  Or your reflection in a glasse,
  Which keepes possession, though you passe.

                    III.
We not behold a watches hand
  To stir, nor plants or flowers to grow;
Must we infer that this doth stand,
  And therefore, that those do not blow?
This she acts calmer, like Heav'ns brand,
  The stedfast lightning, slow loves dart,
  She kils, but ere we feele the smart.

                    IV.
Oh, she is constant as the winde,
  That revels in an ev'nings aire!
Certaine as wayes unto the blinde,
  More reall then her flatt'ries are;
Gentle as chaines that honour binde,
  More faithfull then an Hebrew Jew,
  But as the divel not halfe so true.

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