Classic Poem

Disdain Censured

Shall fear to seem untrue
To vows of constant duty,
Make me digest disdain's undo,
From an inconstant beauty?

No! I do not affect,
In vows to seem so holy,
That I would have the world to check
My constancy with folly.

Let her call breach of vow
What I call just repentance,
I count him base and brain-sick too,
That doats on coy acquaintance.

Thus if out of her snare,
At last I do unfold me,
Accuse her not that caught me there,
And knew not how to hold me.

And if I rebel prove,
Against my will I do it —
Yet can I hate as well as love,
When reason binds me to it.English