When absent from her eyes,
That feed my love, which is my soul:
It languishes and dies." - Meaning and context.">
The Mistress: A Song, ll. 5–8
“

But oh, how slowly minutes roll
When absent from her eyes,
That feed my love, which is my soul:
It languishes and dies.

— John Wilmot, 2nd Earl of Rochester

What It Means

This is a placeholder explanation generated by the low-overhead model. It interprets "But oh, how slowly minutes roll
When absent from her eyes,
That feed my love, which is my soul:
It languishes and dies." in the context of "The Mistress: A Song, ll. 5–8" to mean that wisdom is timeless.

Source: Wikiquote: "John Wilmot, 2nd Earl of Rochester" (Quotes, Other) The 'What it means' explanation text was generated by Google Gemini Flash (accessed January 18, 2026). https://gemini.google.com/app

About John Wilmot, 2nd Earl of Rochester

John Wilmot, 2nd Earl of Rochester (1 April 1647 – 26 July 1680) was an English nobleman, a friend of King Charles II of England, and the writer of much satirical and bawdy poetry.