THE LOVER'S RESOLUTION
by: George Wither (1588-1667)
- 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 of 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 disposèd nature
- Joinèd 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
- Which may merit name of Best,
- If she be not such to me,
- What care I how good she be?
-
- 'Cause her fortune seems too high,
- Shall I play the fool and die?
- She that bears a noble mind,
- If not outward helps she find,
- Thinks what with them he would do
- That without them dares her woo;
- And unless that mind I see,
- What care I how great she be?
-
- Great, or good, or kind, or fair,
- I will ne'er the more despair;
- If she love me, this believe,
- I will die ere she shall grieve;
- If she slight me when I woo,
- I can scorn and let her go;
- For if she be not for me,
- What care I for whom she be?
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