Love and Life
1647-1680
ALL my past life is mine no more;
The flying hours are gone,
Like transitory dreams given o'er,
Whose images are kept in store
By memory alone.
The time that is to come is not;
How can it then be mine?
The present moment 's all my lot;
And that, as fast as it is got,
Phillis, is only thine.
Then talk not of inconstancy,
False hearts, and broken vows;
If I by miracle can be
This live-long minute true to thee,
'Tis all that Heaven allows.
DayPoems Poem No. 406
<a href="http://www.daypoems.net/poems/406.html">Love and Life by John Wilmot, Earl of Rochester</a>
The DayPoems Poetry Collection, www.daypoems.net
Timothy Bovee, editor
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