Poem A Day

Why Should A Foolish Marriage Vow

by John Dryden

Why should a foolish marriage vow,

Which long ago was made,

Oblige us to each other now

When passion is decay'd?

We lov'd, and we lov'd, as long as we could,

Till our love was lov'd out in us both:

But our marriage is dead, when the pleasure is fled:

'Twas pleasure first made it an oath.

If I have pleasures for a friend,

And farther love in store,

What wrong has he whose joys did end,

And who could give no more?

'Tis a madness that he should be jealous of me,

Or that I should bar him of another:

For all we can gain is to give our selves pain,

When neither can hinder the other.

Text and source

Rights
Public domain
Source
View original source

Poem A Day

One poem today. Another tomorrow.

Save this poem to your personal anthology and build a reading streak with a new classic each day.