Now let us sport us while we may; And now, like
amorous birds of prey, Rather at once our
time devour, Than languish in
his slow-chapped power.
c.1650-1652 'To His Coy Mistress' (published1681). |
As lines so loves oblique may well Themselves in every angle greet But ours so truly parallel, Though infinite can never meet. Therefore the love which doth us bind, But fate so enviously debars, Is the conjunction of the mind, And opposition of the stars.
Andrew MarvellShe with her eyes my heart does bind,She with her voice might captivate my mind.
Andrew MarvellArt indeed is long, but life is short.
Andrew MarvellHow fit he is to sway That can so well obey.
Andrew MarvellLet us roll all our strength, and all Our sweetness, up into one ball: And tear our pleasures with rough strife, Through the iron gates of life. Thus, though we cannot make our sun Stand still, yet we will make him run.
Andrew MarvellMy love is of a birth as rare As 'tis for object strange and high: It was begotten by Despair Upon Impossibility. Magnanimous Despair alone Could show me so divine a thing, Where feeble Hope could ne'er have flown But vainly flapped its tinsel wing.
Andrew MarvellYe living lamps, by whose dear light The nightingale does sit so late, And studying all the summer night, Her matchless songs does meditate. 556
Andrew MarvellAnd now, when I have summed up all my store, Thinking (so I myself deceive) So rich a chaplet thence to weave As never yet the King of Glory wore, Alas! I find the serpent old, That, twining in his speckled breast, About the flowers disguised does fold With wreaths of fame and interest.
Andrew MarvellMy mind was once the true survey Of all these meadows fresh and gay; And in the greenness of the grass Did see its hopes as in a glass.
Andrew MarvellAnnihilating all that's made To a green thought in a green shade.
Andrew MarvellSuch was that happy garden-state, While man there walked without a mate.
Andrew Marvell'Twas beyond a mortal's share To wander solitary there: Two paradises 'twere in one To live in paradise alone.
Andrew MarvellNo creature loves an empty space; Their bodies measure out their place.
Andrew Marvell'Tis not, what once it was, the world; But a rude heap together hurl'd.
Andrew MarvellOh thou, that dear and happy isle The garden of the world ere while, Thou paradise of four seas, Which heaven planted us to please, But, to exclude the world, did guard With watery if not flaming sword; What luckless apple did we taste, To make us mortal, and thee waste?
Andrew MarvellArt indeed is long, but life is short.
Andrew MarvellHow fit is he to swayThat can so well obey ("Horatian Ode," 83-84),
Andrew MarvellThe world in all doth but two nations bear —The good, the bad; and these mixed everywhere.
Andrew MarvellNo creature loves an empty space;Their bodies measure out their place.
Andrew MarvellTo make a bank was a great plot of state;Invent a shovel, and be a magistrate.
Andrew MarvellThis indigested vomit of the Sea,Fell to the Dutch by Just Propriety.
Andrew MarvellSo much one man can do, That does both act and know.
Andrew MarvellAnd all the way, to guide their chime, With falling oars they kept the time.
Andrew MarvellNo creature loves an empty space; Their bodies measure out their place.
Andrew MarvellWhere the remote Bermudas ride, In th' ocean's bosom unespied.
Andrew MarvellThe grave's a fine and private place, But none, I think, do there embrace.
Andrew MarvellYe living lamps, by whose dear light The nightingale does sit so late; And studying all the summer night, Her matchless songs does meditate.
Andrew MarvellYe country comets, that portend No war nor princes' funeral Shining unto no other end Than to presage the grass's fall.
Andrew Marvell