Francis Beaumont (Фрэнсис Бомонт)

The Indifferent

Never more will I protest,
To love a woman but in jest:
For as they cannot be true,
So, to give each man his due,
 When the wooing fit is past
 Their affection cannot last.

Therefore, if I chance to meet
With a mistress fair and sweet,
She my service shall obtain,
Loving her for love again:
 Thus much liberty I crave,
 Not to be a constant slave.

But when we have tried each other,
If she better like another,
Let her quickly change for me,
Then to change am I as free.
 He or she that loves too long
 Sell their freedom for a song.

Francis Beaumont’s other poems:

  1. Upon the Silent Woman
  2. Ad Comitissam Rutlandiæ
  3. On the Marriage of a Beauteous Young Gentlewoman with an Ancient Man
  4. To My Friend Mr. John Fletcher, upon His Faithful Sheperdess
  5. Lay a Garland on My Hearse

Poems of other poets with the same name (Стихотворения других поэтов с таким же названием):

  • John Donne (Джон Донн) The Indifferent (“I CAN love both fair and brown”)
  • Alexander Brome (Александр Бром) The Indifferent (“MIstake me not, I am not of that mind”)




    To the dedicated English version of this website