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He is stark mad, whoever says,     That he hath been in love an hour, Yet not that love so soon decays,     But that it can ten in less space devour ; Who will believe me, if I swear That I have had the plague a year?     Who would not laugh at me, if I should say     I saw a flash of powder burn a day?
Ah, what a trifle is a heart,     If once into love's hands it come ! All other griefs allow a part     To other griefs, and ask themselves but some ; They come to us, but us love draws ; He swallows us and never chaws ;     By him, as by chain'd shot, whole ranks do die ;     He is the tyrant pike, our hearts the fry.
If 'twere not so, what did become     Of my heart when I first saw thee? I brought a heart into the room,     But from the room I carried none with me. If it had gone to thee, I know Mine would have taught thine heart to show     More pity unto me ; but Love, alas !     At one first blow did shiver it as glass.
Yet nothing can to nothing fall,     Nor any place be empty quite ; Therefore I think my breast hath all     Those pieces still, though they be not unite ; And now, as broken glasses show A hundred lesser faces, so     My rags of heart can like, wish, and adore,     But after one such love, can love no more.
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