Or bid it languish quite away, And't shall do so for thee.
Bid me to weep, and I will weep, While I have eyes to see;
And having none, yet I will keep A heart to weep for thee.
Bid me despair, and I'll despair, Under that cypress tree;
Or bid me die, and I will dare E'en death, to die for thee.
--Thou art my life, my love, my heart, The very eyes of me;
And hast command of every part, To live and die for thee.
*109*
ANTHEA'S RETRACTATION
Anthea laugh'd, and, fearing lest excess Might stretch the cords of civil comeliness She with a dainty blush rebuked her face, And call'd each line back to his rule and space.
*110*
LOVE LIGHTLY PLEASED
Let fair or foul my mistress be, Or low, or tall, she pleaseth me;
Or let her walk, or stand, or sit, The posture her's, I'm pleased with it;
Or let her tongue be still, or stir Graceful is every thing from her;
Or let her grant, or else deny, My love will fit each history.
*111*
TO DIANEME
Give me one kiss, And no more:
If so be, this Makes you poor To enrich you, I'll restore For that one, two-
Thousand score.
*112*
UPON HER EYES
Clear are her eyes, Like purest skies;
Discovering from thence A baby there That turns each sphere, Like an Intelligence.
*113*
UPON HER FEET
Her pretty feet Like snails did creep A little out, and then, As if they played at Bo-peep, Did soon draw in again.
*114*
UPON A DELAYING LADY
Come, come away Or let me go;
Must I here stay Because you're slow, And will continue so;
--Troth, lady, no.
I scorn to be A slave to state;
And since I'm free, I will not wait, Henceforth at such a rate, For needy fate.
If you desire My spark should glow, The peeping fire You must blow;
Or I shall quickly grow To frost, or snow.
*115*
THE CRUEL MAID
--AND, cruel maid, because I see You scornful of my love, and me, I'll trouble you no more, but go My way, where you shall never know What is become of me; there I Will find me out a path to die, Or learn some way how to forget You and your name for ever;--yet Ere I go hence, know this from me, What will in time your fortune be;
This to your coyness I will tell;
And having spoke it once, Farewell.
--The lily will not long endure, Nor the snow continue pure;
The rose, the violet, one day See both these lady-flowers decay;
And you must fade as well as they.
And it may chance that love may turn, And, like to mine, make your heart burn And weep to see't; yet this thing do, That my last vow commends to you;
When you shall see that I am dead, For pity let a tear be shed;
And, with your mantle o'er me cast, Give my cold lips a kiss at last;
If twice you kiss, you need not fear That I shall stir or live more here.
Next hollow out a tomb to cover Me, me, the most despised lover;
And write thereon, THIS, READER, KNOW;
LOVE KILL'D THIS MAN. No more, but so.
*116*
TO HIS MISTRESS, OBJECTING TO HIM NEITHER
TOYING OR TALKING
You say I love not, 'cause I do not play Still with your curls, and kiss the time away.
You blame me, too, because I can't devise Some sport, to please those babies in your eyes;
By Love's religion, I must here confess it, The most I love, when I the least express it.
Shall griefs find tongues; full casks are ever found To give, if any, yet but little sound.
Deep waters noiseless are; and this we know, That chiding streams betray small depth below.
So when love speechless is, she doth express A depth in love, and that depth bottomless.
Now, since my love is tongueless, know me such, Who speak but little, 'cause I love so much.
*117*
IMPOSSIBILITIES: TO HIS FRIEND
My faithful friend, if you can see The fruit to grow up, or the tree;
If you can see the colour come Into the blushing pear or plum;
If you can see the water grow To cakes of ice, or flakes of snow;
If you can see that drop of rain Lost in the wild sea once again;
If you can see how dreams do creep Into the brain by easy sleep:--
--Then there is hope that you may see Her love me once, who now hates me.
*118*
THE BUBBLE: A SONG
To my revenge, and to her desperate fears, Fly, thou made bubble of my sighs and tears!
In the wild air, when thou hast roll'd about, And, like a blasting planet, found her out;
Stoop, mount, pass by to take her eye--then glare Like to a dreadful comet in the air:
Next, when thou dost perceive her fixed sight For thy revenge to be most opposite, Then, like a globe, or ball of wild-fire, fly, And break thyself in shivers on her eye!
*119*
DELIGHT IN DISORDER
A sweet disorder in the dress Kindles in clothes a wantonness;
A lawn about the shoulders thrown Into a fine distraction;
An erring lace, which here and there Enthrals the crimson stomacher;
A cuff neglectful, and thereby Ribbons to flow confusedly;
A winning wave, deserving note, In the tempestuous petticoat;
A careless shoe-string, in whose tie I see a wild civility;--
Do more bewitch me, than when art Is too precise in every part.
*120*
TO SILVIA
Pardon my trespass, Silvia! I confess My kiss out-went the bounds of shamefacedness:--
None is discreet at all times; no, not Jove Himself, at one time, can be wise and love.
*121*
TO SILVIA TO WED
Let us, though late, at last, my Silvia, wed;
And loving lie in one devoted bed.
Thy watch may stand, my minutes fly post haste;
No sound calls back the year that once is past.
Then, sweetest Silvia, let's no longer stay;
True love, we know, precipitates delay.
Away with doubts, all scruples hence remove!
No man, at one time, can be wise, and love.
*122*
BARLEY-BREAK; OR, LAST IN HELL
We two are last in hell; what may we fear To be tormented or kept pris'ners here I Alas! if kissing be of plagues the worst, We'll wish in hell we had been last and first.
*123*
ON A PERFUMED LADY
You say you're sweet: how should we know Whether that you be sweet or no?
--From powders and perfumes keep free;
Then we shall smell how sweet you be!
*124*
THE PARCAE; OR, THREE DAINTY DESTINIES:
THE ARMILET
Three lovely sisters working were, As they were closely set, Of soft and dainty maiden-hair, A curious Armilet.
I, smiling, ask'd them what they did, Fair Destinies all three?
Who told me they had drawn a thread Of life, and 'twas for me.
They shew'd me then how fine 'twas spun And I replied thereto;
