LOVE AND LIFE
(A Song)

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All my past life is mine no more,
              The flying hours are gone:
Like transitory Dreams giv'n 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 Heav'n allows.

 

 

© John Wilmot
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© E-magazine LiterNet, 13.01.2000, ¹ 1 (2)