Thomas Humphry Ward, ed. The English Poets. 1880–1918.rnVol. II. The Seventeenth Century: Ben Jonson to Dryden

John Wilmot, Earl of Rochester (1647–1680)

Song: ‘Absent from thee I languish still’

ABSENT from thee I languish still,

Then ask me not, when I return?

The straying fool ’twill plainly kill

To wish all day, all night to mourn.

Dear, from thine arms then let me fly,

That my fantastic mind may prove

The torments it deserves to try,

That tears my fixed heart from my love.

When, wearied with a world of woe,

To thy safe bosom I retire,

Where love and peace and honour flow,

May I contented there expire.

Lest once more wandering from that heaven,

I fall on some base heart unblessed,

Faithless to thee, false, unforgiven,

And lose my everlasting rest.