English poetry

English Poems – Page 30

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Hidden Flame

I FEED a flame within, which so torments me
That it both pains my heart, and yet contents me:
'Tis such a pleasing smart, and I so love it, …

John Dryden
Song to a Fair Young Lady,going out of the Town in the Spring

Ask not the cause why sullen Spring
So long delays her flowers to bear;
Why warbling birds forget to sing, …

John Dryden
Against Indifference

More love or more disdain I crave;
Sweet, be not still indifferent:
O send me quickly to my grave, …

Charles Webbe
To a Lady asking him how long he would love her

It is not, Celia, in our power
To say how long our love will last;
It may be we within this hour …

Sir George Etherege
News

news from a foreign country came
As if my treasure and my wealth lay there;
So much it did my heart inflame, …

Thomas Traherne
The Sad Day

O THE sad day!
When friends shall shake their heads, and say
Of miserable me— …

Thomas Flatman
To Chloris

Ah, Chloris! that I now could sit
As unconcern'd as when
Your infant beauty could beget …

Sir Charles Sedley
The Libertine

A THOUSAND martyrs I have made,
All sacrificed to my desire,
A thousand beauties have betray'd …

Aphra Behn
Return

Absent from thee, I languish still;
Then ask me not, When I return?
The straying fool 'twill plainly kill …

John Wilmot, Earl of Rochester
Love and Life

All my past life is mine no more;
The flying hours are gone,
Like transitory dreams given o'er, …

John Wilmot, Earl of Rochester
Constancy

I CANNOT change as others do,
Though you unjustly scorn;
Since that poor swain that sighs for you …

John Wilmot, Earl of Rochester
To His Mistress

Why dost thou shade thy lovely face? O why
Does that eclipsing hand of thine deny
The sunshine of the Sun's enlivening eye? …

John Wilmot, Earl of Rochester
The Reconcilement

Come, let us now resolve at last
To live and love in quiet;
We'll tie the knot so very fast …

John Sheffield, Duke of Buckinghamshire
On One who died discovering her Kindness

Some vex their souls with jealous pain,
While others sigh for cold disdain:
Love's various slaves we daily see— …

John Sheffield, Duke of Buckinghamshire
The Enchantment

I DID but look and love awhile,
'Twas but for one half-hour;
Then to resist I had no will, …

Thomas Otway
A Quiet Soul

Thy soul within such silent pomp did keep,
As if humanity were lull'd asleep;
So gentle was thy pilgrimage beneath, …

John Oldham
The Question to Lisetta

What nymph should I admire or trust,
But Chloe beauteous, Chloe just?
What nymph should I desire to see, …

Matthew Prior
To a Child of Quality

Lords, knights, and squires, the numerous band
That wear the fair Miss Mary's fetters,
Were summoned by her high command …

Matthew Prior
On My Birthday, July 21

I, MY dear, was born to-day—
So all my jolly comrades say:
They bring me music, wreaths, and mirth, …

Matthew Prior
The Lady who offers her Looking-Glass to Venus

Venus, take my votive glass:
Since I am not what I was,
What from this day I shall be, …

Matthew Prior