Ametas and Thestylis Making Hay-ropes

By Andrew Marvell 1621–1678 Andrew Marvell

AMETAS

Think’st thou that this love can stand,

Whilst thou still dost say me nay?

Love unpaid does soon disband:

Love binds love as hay binds hay.

THESTYLIS

Think’st thou that this rope would twine

If we both should turn one way?

Where both parties so combine,

Neither love will twist nor hay.

AMETAS

Thus you vain excuses find,

Which yourselves and us delay:

And love ties a woman’s mind

Looser than with ropes of hay.

THESTYLIS

What you cannot constant hope

Must be taken as you may.

AMETAS

Then let’s both lay by our rope,

And go kiss within the hay.

Source: Complete Poems (1996)

Biography

In an era that makes a better claim than most upon the familiar term transitional, Andrew Marvell is surely the single most compelling embodiment of the change that came over English society and letters in the course of the seventeenth century. Author of a varied array of exquisite lyrics that blend Cavalier grace with Metaphysical wit and complexity, Marvell turned, first, into a panegyrist for the Lord Protector and his regime . . .

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