ON COUPLETS

  The couplet has a couple lines that rhyme,
  Explaining what at times can be sublime,
  But here is merely expositional
  And consequently fated to be dull;
  Whereas the best of couplets truly sing
  And long in many memories will ring:

  “If this be error and upon me proved,
  I never writ, nor no man ever loved.”

  “For thy sweet love rememb’red such wealth brings
  That then I scorn to change my state with kings.”

  “And yet, by heaven, I think my love as rare
  As any she belied with false compare.”

  “So shalt thou feed on Death, that feeds on men,
  And Death once dead, there’s no more dying then.”

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