Classic Poem

I.

Me ne'r for being fickle, blame,
Since thou but alter'd art, not I;
Who, true to Love and Beauty am,
Thy Change makes my Inconstancy;
Who, since not now the same to me,
Mak'st me now not the same to thee;

II.

Because to Beauty I am true,
When that left thee, I left thee too,
I paid thee my Love, when thy Due;
But since it does another's grow,
Who now seems Fair, as once you were,
I'm true so, to thy Charms, in her;

III.

Since Beauty's Due, Love is alone,
He Faithful is, that follows it;
When in a Mistress it is gone,
'Tis just its Lover her shou'd quit;
For he to Love does justest prove,
Who does most, the most Lovely love;

IV.

By the same Justice, that I was
Thy Beauty's conquer'd Slave before;
I'm more enslav'd by that New Face,
Whose Charms both me, nay thine o'erpow'r,
Must not your Subjects Vassals grow,
To her, who triumphs over you?

V.

Cease then, to call me Renegade,
Since thou, sure 'tis, art chang'd, not I;
I have the Passion still I had,
For Beauty, love Variety;
Others I left, to come to you,
For others, justly leave you now;

VI.

Then as the Fire is still the same,
Altho' new Fuel keeps it in,
So still the same, has my Love's Flame,
Through all its Change of Passions been;
Since Love, Variety does love,
To Love, in Change, I Constant prove;

VII.

For Truth to one Old Mistress, were,
To the whole Sex more false to grow;
And Faith to one Particular,
But Wrong to all the rest wou'd do;
The Dues of all, to pay to one,
Were most Injustice cou'd be done;

VIII.

Since Man's Heart is by Nature Free,
And Common, it, like Commons, n'er,
For any private Right shou'd be
Inclos'd by one Particular;
Since all we call Peculiar Love,
But Wrong does to the Public prove;

IX.

You might as well, a lasting Fire
Expect, where all the Fuel's gone;
As think Love's Flames shou'd not expire,
Where, they have nothing to feed on:
Love's fierce Flames are, like others so.
But with fresh Fuel kept in too;

X.

You, with my Fellow-Servants, might,
As well as much enrag'd have been,
For letting out the Fire, or Light,
Allowing nought, to keep 'em in;
For my Change, but thy Changing blame,
'Tis you, not I, seem not the same.