Andrew Marvell(1621—1679)

To His Coy Mistress

Had we but world enough, and time,

This coyness, Lady, were no crime;

We would sit down and think which way

To walk and pass our long love's day.

Thou by the Indian Ganges' side^[1]

Shouldest rubies find: I by the tide

Of Humber would complain. I would

Love you ten years before the Flood,

And you should, if you please, refuse

Till the conversion of the Jews.^[2]

My vegetable love should grow

Vaster than empires, and more slow;

And hundred years should go to praise

Thine eyes and on thy forehead gaze;

Two hundred to adore each breast,

But thirty thousand to the rest;

An age at least to every part,

And the last age should show your heart.

For, Lady, you deserve this state,

Nor would I love at lower rate.

But at my back I always hear

Time's winged chariot hurrying near;

And yonder all before us lie

Deserts of vast eternity.

Thy beauty shall no more be found,

Nor, in thy marble vault, shall sound

My echoing song: then worms shall try

That long preserved virginity,

And your quaint honour turn to dust,

And into ashes all my lust:

The grave's a fine and private place,

But none, I think, do there embrace.

Now therefore, while the youthful hue

Sits on thy skin like morning dew,

And while thy willing soul transpires

At every pore with instant fires,

Now let us sport us while we may,

And now, like amorous birds of prey,

Rather at once our time devour

Than languish in his slow-chapt power.

Let us roll all our strength and all

Our sweetness up into one ball,

And tear our pleasures with rough strife

Through the iron gates of life:

Thus, though we cannot make our sun

Stand still, yet we will make him run.

[1] Ganges即发源于喜马拉雅山并流经印度和孟加拉国的恒河，在很多印度人的心目中被视为圣河；Humber是英格兰东部的小河，流经作者故乡赫尔市。这两条河相去万里，显示出“空间”距离及差异之大，而红宝石据说有保持贞节作用。

[2] 据基督教传说，这洪水发生在史前远古时代，而犹太人皈依基督教则要到世界末日，两者在“时间”上相距极远。