Sonnet 1: Dost see how unregarded now
Sonnet 1: Dost see how unregarded now
Original Text
Sir John Suckling, Fragmenta Aurea (London: H. Moseley, 1646). Wing S6127. B-11 2046 Fisher Rare Book Library
1Dost see how unregarded now
2 That piece of beauty passes?
3There was a time when I did vow
4 To that alone;
5 But mark the fate of faces;
6The red and white works now no more on me
7Than if it could not charm, or I not see.
8And yet the face continues good,
9 And I have still desires,
10Am still the selfsame flesh and blood,
11 As apt to melt
12 And suffer from those fires;
13Oh some kind pow'r unriddle where it lies,
14Whether my heart be faulty, or her eyes?
15She ev'ry day her man does kill,
16 And I as often die;
17Neither her power then, nor my will
18 Can question'd be.
19 What is the mystery?
20Sure beauty's empires, like to greater states,
21Have certain periods set, and hidden fates.
Publication Start Year
1646
RPO poem Editors
N. J. Endicott
RPO Edition
3RP.1.330; RPO 1994-2000.
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