LOVE not, love not! ye hapless sons of clay! <br />Hope’s gayest wreaths are made of earthly flowers— <br />Things that are made to fade and fall away <br />Ere they have blossom’d for a few short hours. <br /> Love not! <br /> <br />Love not! the thing ye love may change: <br />The rosy lip may cease to smile on you, <br />The kindly-beaming eye grow cold and strange, <br />The heart still warmly beat, yet not be true. <br /> Love not! <br /> <br />Love not! the thing you love may die, <br />May perish from the gay and gladsome earth; <br />The silent stars, the blue and smiling sky, <br />Beam o’er its grave, as once upon its birth. <br /> Love not! <br /> <br />Love not! oh warning vainly said <br />In present hours as in the years gone by; <br />Love flings a halo round the dear ones’ head, <br />Faultless, immortal, till they change or die, <br /> Love not!<br /><br />Caroline Elizabeth Sarah Norton<br /><br />http://www.poemhunter.com/poem/love-not/
