And now, when I have summed up all my store, Thinking (so I myself deceive) So rich a chaplet thence to weave As never yet the King of Glory wore, Alas! I find the serpent old, That, twining in his speckled breast, About the flowers disguised does fold With wreaths of fame and interest.

Andrew Marvell

Categorized in : Thinking Kings Flower

But at my back I always hear Time's winged chariot hurrying near.

Andrew Marvell

humorous time witty

Gather the flowers, but spare the buds.

Andrew Marvell

bud moments flower

Art indeed is long, but life is short.

Andrew Marvell

life-is-short long art

Had we but world enough, and time, this coyness, lady, were no crime.

Andrew Marvell

crime rubies world

The world in all doth but two nations bear- The good, the bad; and these mixed everywhere.

Andrew Marvell

two-nations bears world

Self-preservation, nature's first great law, all the creatures, except man, doth awe.

Andrew Marvell

self fear men

How vainly men themselves amaze To win the palm, the oak, or bays; And their uncessant labours see Crown'd from some single herb or tree. Whose short and narrow verged shade Does prudently their toils upbraid; While all flow'rs and all trees do close To weave the garlands of repose.

Andrew Marvell

winning tree men

Therefore the love which us doth bind,

Andrew Marvell

fate stars love

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.

Andrew Marvell

iron tears running

The grave's a fine and private place,

Andrew Marvell

dying death thinking

Thus, though we cannot make our sun Stand still, yet we will make him run

Andrew Marvell

carpe-diem sun running

Meanwhile the mind, from pleasure less, Withdraws into its happiness; The mind, that ocean where each kind Does straight its own resemblance find; Yet it creates, transcending these, Far other worlds, and other seas; Annihilating all that's made To a green thought in a green glade ... Such was that happy garden-state.

Andrew Marvell

garden ocean happiness

Had it lived long, is would have been

Andrew Marvell

flower rose long

No white nor red was ever seen So am'rous as this lovely green. Fond lovers, cruel as their flame, Cut in these trees their mistress' name. Little, alas, they know or heed How far these beauties hers exceed! Fair trees! where s'e'er your barks I wound, No name shall but your own be found.

Andrew Marvell

flames cutting white

As lines, so loves oblique, may well Themselves in every angle greet; But ours, so truly parallel, Though infinite, can never meet.

Andrew Marvell

lines may love

I have a garden of my own, But so with roses overgrown, And lilies, that you would it guess To be a little wilderness.

Andrew Marvell

garden flower rose

Annihilating all that's made, To a green thought in a green shade.

Andrew Marvell

shade green tree

He nothing common did, or mean, / Upon that memorable scene, / But with his keener eye / The axe's edge did try.

Andrew Marvell

eye memorable mean

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 preserv'd 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.

Andrew Marvell

song lying thinking

Casting the body's vest aside, My soul into the boughs does glide.

Andrew Marvell

body soul doe