Thomas Carew (1595?-by 1640)
Mediocrity in Love Rejected
1Give me more love or more disdain;
2 The torrid, or the frozen zone,
3Bring equal ease unto my pain;
4 The temperate affords me none;
5Either extreme, of love, or hate,
6Is sweeter than a calm estate.
7Give me a storm; if it be love,
8 Like Danae in that golden show'r
9I swim in pleasure; if it prove
10 Disdain, that torrent will devour
11My vulture-hopes; and he's possess'd
12Of heaven, that's but from hell releas'd.
13Then crown my joys, or cure my pain;
14Give me more love, or more disdain.
Notes
8] Danae: imprisoned in a tower, she was loved by Zeus in the form of a shower of gold.
Online text copyright © 2009, Ian Lancashire (the Department of English) and the University of Toronto.
Published by the Web Development Group, Information Technology Services, University of Toronto Libraries.
Original text: Thomas Carew, Poems (J. D. for T. Walkley, 1640). STC 4620.
First publication date:
1640
RPO poem editor: N. J. Endicott
RP edition: 3RP 1.218.
Recent editing: 4:2002/2/7
Rhyme: ababcc
Other poems by Thomas Carew
