Poem by Francis Beaumont

The Indifferent

Never more will I protest,
To love a woman but in jest:
For as they cannot be true,
So, to give each man his due,
 When the wooing fit is past
 Their affection cannot last.

Therefore, if I chance to meet
With a mistress fair and sweet,
She my service shall obtain,
Loving her for love again:
 Thus much liberty I crave,
 Not to be a constant slave.

But when we have tried each other,
If she better like another,
Let her quickly change for me,
Then to change am I as free.
 He or she that loves too long
 Sell their freedom for a song.

1. Ad Comitissam Rutlandiæ
2. To My Friend Mr. John Fletcher, upon His Faithful Sheperdess
3. In Laudem Authoris
4. Mr. Francis Beaumont's Letter to Ben Jonson
5. To the True Patroness of All Poetry, Calliope

Alexander Brome The Indifferent ("MIstake me not, I am not of that mind")

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