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To His Coy Mistress

To His Coy Mistress is a poem by Andrew Marvell on the ancient carpe diem ('sieze the day') theme. Stripped of all poetry, the three-part message would be thus:
If we were going to live forever you could put me off forever and I could take as long as you like to get to know you.
But time goes by and we will die, and you cannot make love when you are dead.
So let's go fast for as long as we are still alive.

"To His Coy Mistress" is referenced in T. S. Eliot's poem "The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock", and "The Garden".

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