A Lover’s Resolution
by George Wither (1588-1667)

Shall I wasting in despair,
Die because a woman ‘s fair?
Or make pale my cheeks with care
‘Cause another’s rosy are?
Be she fairer than the day,
Or the flow’ry meads in May,
      If she be not so to me,
      What care I how fair she be?

Should my heart be grieved or pined
‘Cause I see a woman kind?
Or a well disposed nature
Joined with a lovely feature?
Be she meeker, kinder, than
Turtle-dove or pelican,
      If she be not so to me,
      What care I how kind she be?

Shall a woman’s virtues move
Me to perish for her love?
Or her well-deservings known
Make me quite forget my own?
Be she with that goodness blest
Which may merit name of Best,
      If she be not such to me,
      What care I how good she be?

‘Cause her fortune seems too high,
Shall I play the fool and die?
She that bears a noble mind,
Where they want of riches find,
Thinks what with them he would do
That without them dares her woo;
      And unless that mind I see,
      What care I though great she be?

Great, or good, or kind, or fair,
I will ne’er the more despair;
If she love me, this believe,
I will die ere she shall grieve;
If she slight me when I woo,
I can scorn and let her go;
      For if she be not for me,
      What care I for whom she be?

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