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Home  »  The Book of Restoration Verse  »  John Sheffield, Duke of Buckinghamshire (1648–1721)

William Stanley Braithwaite, ed. The Book of Restoration Verse. 1910.

Inconstancy Excused

John Sheffield, Duke of Buckinghamshire (1648–1721)

I MUST confess I am untrue

To Gloriana’s eyes;

But he that’s smiled upon by you

Must all the world despise.

In winter fires of little worth

Excite our dull desire;

But when the sun breaks kindly forth

Those fainter flames expire.

Then blame me not for slighting now

What I did once adore:

O do but this one change allow,

And I can change no more;

Fixed by your never-failing charms

Till I with age decay,

Till languishing within your arms

I sigh my soul away.