Poetry Explorer- Classic Contemporary Poetry, THE FALSE ONE; IN IMITATION TO THAT OF HORACE, by CHARLES COTTON


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Classic and Contemporary Poetry

THE FALSE ONE; IN IMITATION TO THAT OF HORACE, by                 Poet Analysis     Poet's Biography
First Line: Behold, false maid, yon horned light
Last Line: Despise, and laugh at him and thee.
Subject(s): Unfaithfulness; Infidelity; Adultery; Inconstancy


The False One

IN IMITATION OF THAT OF HORACE

I

BEHOLD, False Maid, yon horned light,
Which in Heav'n's arched vault doth range,
And view part of thyself in it;
Yet she but once a month does change.

II

The raging sea, th' uncertain air,
Or, what does yet more change admit,
Of variation emblems are;
When thou, and only thou art it.

III

Philosophers their pains may spare
Perpetual motion where to find;
If such a thing be anywhere,
'Tis Woman, in thy fickle mind.

IV

How oft, incentred in thine arms,
Big with betraying sighs and tears,
Hast thou secur'd me, by thy charms,
From other lovers' natural fears.

V

Sighs, that improv'd the honest flame,
Which made my faithful bosom pant;
And tears so gentle, as might claim
Belief, from hearts of adamant.

VI

These were the arts seduc'd my youth,
A captive to thy wanton will:
That with a falsehood, like to truth,
In the same instant cure, and kill.

VII

Go tell the next you will betray,
(I mean that Fool usurps my room)
How for his sake I'm turn'd away;
To the same fortune he must come.

VIII

When I, restored to that sense
Thou hast distemper'd, sound and free,
Shall, with a very just pretence,
Despise, and laugh at him and thee.





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