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Home  »  Poems by Sir Walter Raleigh  »  The Excuse, written by Sir Walter Raleigh in his younger years

Sir Walter Raleigh (1554?–1618). Poems. 1892.

II.

The Excuse, written by Sir Walter Raleigh in his younger years

CALLING to mind, my eyes went long about

To cause my heart for to forsake my breast,

All in a rage I sought to pull them out,

As who had been such traitors to my rest:

What could they say to win again my grace?—

Forsooth, that they had seen my mistress’ face.

Another time, my heart I called to mind,—

Thinking that he this woe on me had brought,

Because that he to love his force resigned,

When of such wars my fancy never thought:

What could he say when I would him have slain?—

That he was hers, and had forgone my chain.

At last, when I perceived both eyes and heart

Excuse themselves, as guiltless of my ill,

I found myself the cause of all my smart,

And told myself that I myself would kill:

Yet when I saw myself to you was true,

I loved myself, because myself loved you.