To Lucasta, Going to the Warres

To Lucasta, Going to the Warres is a 1649 poem by Richard Lovelace. It was published in the collection Lucasta by Lovelace of that year. The initial poems were addressed to Lucasta, not clearly identified with any real-life woman, under the titles Going beyond the Seas and Going to the Warres, on a chivalrous note.^[1]

Text

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 honor more.

See also

• To Althea, from Prison
• 1640 in poetry, the year Lucasta was written
• 1649 in poetry, the year the poem was published

Notes

1. Anselment, Raymond A. "Lovelace, Richard". Oxford Dictionary of National Biography (online ed.). Oxford University Press. doi:10.1093/ref:odnb/17056. (Subscription or UK public library membership required.)