“I prithee send me back my heart”

Sir John Suckling (1609–1642)

I PRITHEE send me back my heart,

Since I cannot have thine;

For if from yours you will not part,

Why then shouldst thou have mine?

Yet, now I think on ’t, let it lie;

To find it were in vain;

For thou ’st a thief in either eye

Would steal it back again.

Why should two hearts in one breast lie,

And yet not lodge together?

O Love! where is thy sympathy

If thus our breasts thou sever?

But love is such a mystery,

I cannot find it out;

For when I think I ’m best resolved

I then am most in doubt.

Then farewell care, and farewell woe;

I will no longer pine;

For I ’ll believe I have her heart

As much as she has mine.