Lyric Poem · Love
To His Coy Mistress
by Andrew Marvell · 1681
1Had we but World enough, and Time,
2This coyness Lady were no crime.
3We would sit down, and think which way
4To walk, and pass our long Loves Day.
5Thou by the Indian Ganges side
6Should'st Rubies find; I by the Tide
7Of Humber would complain. I would
8Love you ten years before the Flood:
9And you should if you please refuse
10Till the Conversion of the Jews.
11My vegetable Love should grow
12Vaster then Empires, and more slow.
13An hundred years should go to praise
14Thine Eyes, and on thy Forehead Gaze.
15Two hundred to adore each Breast:
16But thirty thousand to the rest.
17An Age at least to every part,
18And the last Age should show your Heart.
19For Lady you deserve this State;
20Nor would I love at lower rate.
21But at my back I alwaies hear
22Times winged Charriot hurrying near:
23And yonder all before us lye
24Desarts of vast Eternity.
25Thy Beauty shall no more be found,
26Nor, in thy marble Vault, shall sound
27My ecchoing Song: then Worms shall try
28That long preserv'd Virginity:
29And your quaint Honour turn to dust;
30And into ashes all my Lust.
31The Grave's a fine and private place,
32But none I think do there embrace.
33Now therefore, while the youthful hew
34Sits on thy skin like morning glew,
35And while thy willing Soul transpires
36At every pore with instant Fires,
37Now let us sport us while we may;
38And now, like am'rous birds of prey,
39Rather at once our Time devour,
40Than languish in his slow-chapt pow'r.
41Let us roll all our Strength, and all
42Our sweetness, up into one Ball:
43And tear our Pleasures with rough strife,
44Thorough the Iron gates of Life.
45Thus, though we cannot make our Sun
46Stand still, yet we will make him run.
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“To His Coy Mistress” by Andrew Marvell — quilloak.com/poems/to-his-coy-mistress
Quick facts
- Poem
- To His Coy Mistress
- Poet
- Andrew Marvell
- Published
- 1681
- Length
- 46 lines
- Form
- Lyric Poem
- Themes
- Love, Funny, Life
Craft notes
How this poem works
Measured from the text on this page, not copied from a summary. Counts are approximate: syllables and rhymes come from the CMU Pronouncing Dictionary, which models General American English, so dialect, older pronunciation, and performance can all change what you hear.
- Shape
- 46 lines · 2 stanzas of 14–32 lines
- Line length
- Mostly 8-syllable lines (tetrameter length).
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Text, source & rights
A traceable edition
Full-text display is based on the cited edition and a United States term-expiry review.
- Author record
- Andrew Marvell1621–1678
- Source record
- WikisourceTo His Coy Mistress by andrew-marvell, Wikisource transcription
- Display decision
- Full text · United States · reviewed 2026-07-18
- Publication record
- 1681
- Text fingerprint
- SHA-256 af874c475745e862…
- Editorial handling
- Whitespace and stanza breaks normalized for web display; no material wording change recorded.
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