| Arthur Quiller-Couch, comp. The Oxford Book of Victorian Verse. 1922. | | | | Love Not | | By Caroline Elizabeth Sarah (Sheridan) Norton (1808–1877) |
| | | LOVE not, love not, ye hapless sons of clay! | |
| Hope’s gayest wreaths are made of earthly flow’rs— | |
| Things that are made to fade and fall away, | |
| When they have blossom’d but a few short hours. | |
| Love not, love not! | 5 |
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| Love not, love not! The thing you love may die— | |
| May perish from the gay and gladsome earth; | |
| The silent stars, the blue and smiling sky, | |
| Beam on its grave as once upon its birth. | |
| Love not, love not! | 10 |
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| Love not, love not! The thing you love may change, | |
| The rosy lip may cease to smile on you; | |
| The kindly beaming eye grow cold and strange; | |
| The heart still warmly beat, yet not be true. | |
| Love not, love not! | 15 |
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| Love not, love not! O warning vainly said | |
| In present years, as in the years gone by! | |
| Love flings a halo round the dear one’s head, | |
| Faultless, immortal—till they change or die! | |
| Love not, love not! | 20 | | | |
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