Thomas Humphry Ward, ed. The English Poets. 1880–1918.rnVol. II. The Seventeenth Century: Ben Jonson to Dryden
Thomas Carew (1595?1639?)A Deposition from Love
I
Nor love, nor pity knew,
And with what scorn you use to vex
Poor hearts that humbly sue;
Yet I believed, to crown our pain,
Could we the fortress win,
The happy lover sure should gain
A paradise within.
I thought Love’s plagues, like dragons, sate,
Only to fright us at the gate.
What happy lovers prove,
For I could kiss, and sport and toy,
And taste those sweets of love,
Which, if they had a lasting state,
Or if in Celia’s breast
The force of love might not abate,
Jove were too mean a guest.
But now her breach of faith far more
Afflicts, than did her scorn before.
As victor of a heart,
Achieved with labour and unrest,
And then forced to depart;
If the stout foe will not resign,
When I besiege a town,
I lose but what was never mine,
But he that is cast down
From enjoyed beauty, feels a woe
Only deposëd kings can know.