A Dialogue Betwixt Cordanus and Amoret

by Richard Lovelace

CORDANUS
     Distressèd pilgrim, whose dark clouded eyes
     Speak thee a martyr to love's cruelties,
     Whither away?
AMOR
     What pitying voice I hear,
     Calls back my flying steps?
CORDANUS
     Pr'ythee, draw near.
AMOR
     I shall but say, kind swain, what doth become
     Of a lost heart, ere to Elysium
     It wounded walks?
CORDANUS
     First, it does freely flye
     Into the pleasures of a lover's eye;
     But, once condemn'd to scorn, it fetter'd lies,
     An ever-bowing slave to tyrannies.
AMOR
     I pity its sad fate, since its offence
     Was but for love. Can tears recall it thence?
CORDANUS
     O no, such tears, as do for pity call,
     She proudly scorns, and glories at their fall.
AMOR
     Since neither sighs nor tears, kind shepherd, tell,
     Will not a kiss prevail?
CORDANUS
     Thou may'st as well
     Court Eccho with a kiss.
AMOR
     Can no art move
     A sacred violence to make her love?
CORDANUS
     O no! 'tis only Destiny or Fate
     Fashions our wills either to love or hate.
AMOR
     Then, captive heart, since that no humane spell
     Hath power to graspe thee his, farewell.
CORDANUS
     Farewell.
Cho. Lost hearts, like lambs drove from their folds by fears,
     May back return by chance, but not by tears.


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