Why is there a touch of regret in the first stanza? ( MEG 101 ) ( ANDREW MARVELL )

 Had we but World enough, and time,

This coyness, Lady, were no crime. We would sit down

and think which way To walk, and pass our long Love's

Day.

Though by the Indian Ganges ' side

Should'st Rubies find : I by the Tide

Of Humber would complain. I would Love you ten

years before the Flood : And you should if you please

refuse Till the conversion of the Jews.

My vegetable love should grow

Vaster than Empires, and more slow

An hundred years should go to praise

Thine eyes, and on thy forehead gaze; Two hundred to

adore each Breast : But thirty thousand for the rest.

An Age at least to every part,

And the last Age should show your Heart :

For, Lady, you deserve this state; Nor would I love you at lower rate. 

For, Lady, you deserve this state; Nar would I love you at

lower rate. 

But at my back I always hear

Time's winged chariot hurrying near : And yonder all before us

lye

Deserts of Vast Eternity ,

Thy beauty shall no more be found;

Nor, in thy marble vault, shall sound My echoing sang : then

worms shall try That long preserved virginity :

And your quaint Honour him to dust;

And into ashes all my lust,

The grave's a fine and private place,

But none I think do there embrace 

"echoing song" -

And yet to times in hope my verse shall stand,

Praising thy worth, despite his cruel hand 

Not marble, not the gilded monuments

Of princes, shall outlive this powerful rhyme 

Now, therefore while the youthful hew

Sits on thy skin like morning dew,

And while thy willing soul transpires

At every pore with instant Fires

Now let us part while we may;

And now, like am'rous birds of prey, Rather at once

our time devour, Than languish in his slow-chapt

pow'r. Let us roll all our strength, and all Our

sweetness up into one Ball :

And tear our pleasures with rough strife,

Through the iron gates of life Thus though we

cannot make our Sun Stand still, yet we will make

him run

Why is there a touch of regret in the first stanza?

There is a touch of regret in the first stanza of the poem because the speaker is acknowledging that time is finite and that they cannot spend an unlimited amount of time with their loved one. The opening lines express a desire for more time, but the speaker knows that it is not possible, hence the regretful tone. The phrase "This coyness, Lady, were no crime" suggests that the speaker's lover is hesitant or resistant, and the regret may stem from the fact that the speaker feels they have missed out on opportunities for intimacy and love.