Jonson. The Forest. I. Why I Write not of Love.

Ben Jonson

T H E F O R E S T .

I. — WHY I WRITE NOT OF LOVE.

SOME act of LOVE'S bound to rehearse,
I thought to bind him in my verse :
Which when he felt, Away, quoth he,
Can poets hope to fetter me ?
It is enough, they once did get             5
Mars and my mother, in their net :
I wear not these my wings in vain.
With which he fled me ;  and again,
Into my rhymes could ne'er be got
By any art :  then wonder not,            10
That since, my numbers are so cold,
When Love is fled, and I grow cold.

Venus Blindfolding Cupid. [detail]
Titian. c.1565. Galleria Borghese, Rome.

Source:
Jonson, Ben. The Works of Ben Jonson.
Boston: Phillips, Sampson, and Co., 1853. 801.

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