On the Friendship Betwixt Two Ladies

Edmund Waller 1606 (Coleshill) – 1687



Tell me, lovely, loving pair!
Why so kind, and so severe?
Why so careless of our care,
Only to yourselves so dear?

By this cunning change of hearts,
You the power of love control;
While the boy's eluded darts
Can arrive at neither soul.

For in vain to either breast
Still beguiled love does come,
Where he finds a foreign guest,
Neither of your hearts at home.

Debtors thus with like design,
When they never mean to pay,
That they may the law decline,
To some friend make all away.

Not the silver doves that fly,
Yoked in Cytherea's car;
Not the wings that lift so high,
And convey her son so far;

Are so lovely, sweet, and fair,
Or do more ennoble love;
Are so choicely matched a pair,
Or with more consent do move.

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Submitted on May 13, 2011

Modified on April 20, 2023

42 sec read
56

Quick analysis:

Scheme ABAB CDCD EXEX FGFG HIHI AXAX
Closest metre Iambic tetrameter
Characters 706
Words 138
Stanzas 6
Stanza Lengths 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4

Edmund Waller

Edmund Waller, FRS was an English poet and politician who sat in the House of Commons at various times between 1624 and 1679. more…

All Edmund Waller poems | Edmund Waller Books

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