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Poetry · PoemTo Lucasta, going to the Wars
Richard LovelaceSeventeenth-century EnglandPoem
诗
SOURCE TEXT · English original
TELL me not, Sweet, I am unkind,
That from the nunnery
Of thy chaste breast and quiet mind
To war and arms I fly.
True, a new mistress now I chase,
The first foe in the field;
And with a stronger faith embrace
A sword, a horse, a shield.
Yet this inconstancy is such
As thou too shalt adore;
I could not love thee, Dear, so much,
Loved I not Honour more.
Cultural readingReading the poem
A soldier frames departure for war as a conflict between love and honour, insisting that constancy to honour makes his love more worthy.
Language notesText and edition
The English text follows the fixed historical witness in The Oxford Book of English Verse; no modern third-party translation is included.