What poets say about love

Part 14

“Tell me, what’s Love;”‌ said Youth, one day,

To drooping Age, who crost his way.””

“It is a sunny hour of play;

For which repentance dear doth pay;

  Repentance! Repentance!

And this is Love, as wise men say.”‌

        Moore””Youth and Age.              251

I’ve wandered east, I’ve wandered west,

  I’ve bourne a weary lot;

But in my wanderings far or near

  Ye never were forgot.

The fount that first burst frae this heart

  Still travels on its way

And channels deeper as it rins

  The luve o’ life’s young day.

        Wm. Motherwell””Jeanie Morrison.         252

  Duty’s a slave that keeps the keys,

But Love, the master goes in and out

Of his goodly chambers with song and shout,

  Just as he please””just as he please.

        D. M. Mulock””Plighted.             253

Ah, dearer than my soul…

Dearer than light, or life, or fame.

        Oldham””Lament for Saul and Jonathan.            254

Militat omnis amans.

  Every lover is a soldier. (Love is a warfare.)

        Ovid””Amorum. I. 9. 1.   255

Qui non vult fieri desidiosus, amet.

  Let the man who does not wish to be idle, fall in love.

        Ovid””Amorum. I. 9. 46.             256

Sic ego nec sine te nec tecum vivere possum

Et videor voti nescius esse mei.

  Thus I am not able to exist either with you or without you; and I seem not to know my own wishes.

        Ovid””Amorum. Bk. III. 10. 39.             257

Jupiter ex alto perjuria ridet amantum.

  Jupiter from on high laughs at the perjuries of lovers.

        Ovid””Ars Amatoria. Bk. I. 633.             258

Res est soliciti plena timoris amor.

  Love is a thing full of anxious fears.

        Ovid””Heroides. I. 12.     259

Quicquid Amor jussit non est contemnere tutum.

Regnat, et in dominos jus habet ille deos.

  It is not safe to despise what Love commands. He reigns supreme, and rules the mighty gods.

        Ovid””Heroides. IV. 11.              260

Hei mihi! quod nullis amor est medicabilis herbis.

  Ah me! love can not be cured by herbs.

        Ovid””Metamorphoses. I. 523.    261

Non bene conveniunt, nec in una sede morantur,

Majestas et amor.

  Majesty and love do not well agree, nor do they live together.

        Ovid””Metamorphoses. II. 846.   262

Credula res amor est.

  Love is a credulous thing.

        Ovid””Metamorphoses. VII. 826. Heroides. VI. 21.       263

Otia si tollas, periere cupidinis arcus.

  If you give up your quiet life, the bow of Cupid will lose its power.

        Ovid””Remedia Amoris. CXXXIX.        264

              Qui finem quæris amoris,

(Cedit amor rebus) res age; tutus eris.

  If thou wishest to put an end to love, attend to business (love yields to employment); then thou wilt be safe.

        Ovid””Remedia Amoris. CXLIII.           265

Let those love now who never lov’d before,

Let those who always loved now love the more.

        Thos. Parnell””Trans. of the Pervigilium Veneris. Ancient poem. Author unknown. Ascribed to Catullus. See also Burton””Anatomy of Melancholy. Pt. III. Sec. II. Memb. 5. 5.              266

The moods of love are like the wind,

And none knows whence or why they rise.

        Coventry Patmore””The Angel in the House. Sarum Plain.         267

My merry, merry, merry roundelay

  Concludes with Cupid’s curse,

They that do change old love for new,

  Pray gods, they change for worse!

        George Peele””Cupid’s Curse; From the Arraignment of Paris.              268

What thing is love?””for (well I wot) love is a thing.

It is a prick, it is a sting.

It is a pretty, pretty thing;

It is a fire, it is a coal,

Whose flame creeps in at every hole!

        George Peele””Miscellaneous Poems. The Hunting of Cupid.    269

  Love will make men dare to die for their beloved””love alone; and women as well as men.

        Plato””The Symposium.   270