Life and Love
by John Wilmot

John Wilmot's body of work includes; Poems on Several Occasions (1680), Corydon and Cloris: or The Wanton Shepherdess (1676), A Very Heroical Epistle From Artemisia in the Town to Chloe in the Country (1679), Upon Nothing (1679) and A Satyr Against Reason and Mankind (1679). There is much controversy over his talent as some critics see his popularity being due to his sexual openness and sharp tongue. Others regard him as one of the last important metaphysical poets, a group that included John Donne, George Herbert and Richard Crashaw.

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Life and Love
by John Wilmot

All my past life is mine no more,
The flying hours are gone,
Like transitory dreams giv'n o'er,
Whose images are kept in store
By memory alone.

The time that is to come is not;
How can it then be mine?
The present moment's all my lot;
And that, as fast as it is got,
Phyllis, is only thine.

Then talk not of inconstancy,
False hearts, and brken vows;
If I by miracle can be
This live-long minute true to thee,
'Tis all that Heav'n allows.

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Life and Love by John Wilmot