University of Virginia Library

Excuse for absence.

You need inflict no other banishment,
The fault it selfe's my greatest punishment.
Oft would I pardon crave; but still my Muse
Prompts me, foul weather is a fair excuse.
If that will not suffice; then let this be,
That I have none, my best apologie.
Convict me of my crime, and as 'tis meet,
I'le do you daily Penance in a sheet.
But, prove me absent first, and then,
I'le write apologies, or burn my Pen.
Planets are where they worke, not where they move,
I am not where I live, but where I Love.