Chapter X: Front Matter (10)

Fair is my Love! whose parts are so well framed,
By Nature's special order and direction;
That She herself is more than half ashamed,
In having made a work of such perfection.
And well may Nature blush at such a feature;
Seeing herself excelled in her creature.

XIII.

Her body is straight, slender, and upright;
Her visage comely, and her looks demure
Mixt with a cheerful grace that yields delight;
Her eyes, like stars, bright, shining, clear and pure:
Which I describing, LOVE bids stay my pen,
And says, "It's not a work for mortal men!"

XIV.

The ancient poets write of Graces three,
Which meeting all together in one creature,
In all points, perfect make the Frame to be;
For inward virtues, and for outward feature
But smile, ALCILIA! and the world shall see
That in thine eyes, a hundred Graces be!

XV.

As LOVE had drawn his bow, ready to shoot,
Aiming at me, with resolute intent;
Straight, bow and shaft he cast down at his foot,
And said, "Why, needless, should one shaft be spent?
I'll spare it then, and now it shall suffice
Instead of shafts, to use ALCILIA's eyes."

XVI.

Blush not, my Love! for fear lest PHOEBUS spy!
Which if he do, then, doubtless, he will say,
"Thou seek'st to dim his clearness with thine eye!"
That clearness, which, from East, brings gladsome day:
But most of all, lest JOVE should see, I dread;
And take thee up to heaven like GANYMEDE.

XVII.

PHILOPARTHEN. "What is the cause ALCILIA is displeased?"
LOVE. "Because she wants that which should most content her."
PHILOPARTHEN. "O did I know it, soon should she be eased!"
LOVE. "Perhaps, thou dost! and that doth most torment her."
PHILOPARTHEN. "Yet, let her ask! what she desires to have."
LOVE. "Guess, by thyself! For maidens must not crave!"

XVIII.

My Love, by chance, her tender finger pricked;
As, in the dark, I strivèd for a kiss:
Whose blood, I seeing, offered to have licked,
But half in anger, she refusèd this.
O that she knew the difference of the smart
'Twixt her pricked finger, and my piercèd heart!

XIX.

PHILOPARTHEN. "I pray thee, tell! What makes my heart to tremble,
When, on a sudden, I, ALCILIA spy?"
LOVE. "Because thy heart cannot thy joy dissemble!
Thy life and death are both lodged in her eye."
PHILOPARTHEN. "Dost thou not her, with self-same passion strike?"
LOVE. "O, no! Her heart and thine are not alike."

XX.

Such are thy parts of body and of mind;
That if I should not love thee as I do,
I should too much degenerate from Kind,
And think the world would blame my weakness too.
For he, whom such perfections cannot move,
Is either senseless, or not born to love.

XXI.

ALCILIA's eyes have set my heart on fire,
The pleasing object that my pain doth feed:
Yet still to see those eyes I do desire,
As if my help should from my hurt proceed.
Happy were I, might there in her be found
A will to heal, as there was power to wound.

XXII.

Unwise was he, that painted LOVE a boy;
Who, for his strength, a giant should have been.
It's strange a child should work so great annoy;
Yet howsoever strange, too truly seen.
"But what is he? that dares at LOVE repine;
Whose works are wonders, and himself divine!"

XXIII.

My fair ALCILIA! gladly would I know it,
If ever Loving Passion pierced thy heart?
O, no! For, then, thy kindness soon would show it!
And of my pains, thyself wouldst bear some part.
Full little knoweth he that hath not proved,
What hell it is to love, and not be loved.

XXIV.

LOVE! Art thou blind? Nay, thou canst see too well!
And they are blind that so report of thee!
That thou dost see, myself by proof can tell;
(A hapless proof thereof is made by me);
For sure I am, hadst thou not had thy sight,
Thou never couldst have hit my heart so right.

XXV.

Long have I languished, and endured much smart
Since hapless I, the Cruel Fair did love;
And lodged her in the centre of my heart.
Who, there abiding, Reason should her move.
Though of my pains she no compassion take;
Yet to respect me, for her own sweet sake.

XXVI.

In midst of winter season, as the snow,
Whose milk white mantle overspreads the ground;
In part, the colour of my love is so.
Yet their effects, I have contrary found:
For when the sun appears, snow melts anon;
But I melt always when my sun is gone.

XXVII.

The sweet content, at first, I seemed to prove
(While yet Desire unfledged, could scarcely fly),
Did make me think there was no life to Love;
Till all too late, Time taught the contrary.
For, like a fly, I sported with the flame;
Till, like a fool, I perished in the same.

XXVIII.

After dark night, the cheerful day appeareth;
After an ebb, the river flows again;
After a storm, the cloudy heaven cleareth:
All labours have their end, or ease of pain.
Each creature hath relief and rest, save I,
Who only dying, live; and living, die!

XXIX.

Sometimes I seek for company to sport,
Whereby I might my pensive thoughts beguile;
Sometimes, again, I hide me from resort,
And muse alone: but yet, alas, the while
In changing place, I cannot change my mind;
For wheresoe'er I fly, myself I find.

XXX.

[Sidenote: _Meritum petere grave._]

Fain would I speak, but straight my heart doth tremble,
And checks my tongue that should my griefs reveal:
And so I strive my Passions to dissemble,
Which all the art I have, cannot conceal.
Thus standing mute, my heart with longing starveth!
"It grieves a man to ask, what he deserveth."

XXXI.

Since you desire of me the cause to know,
For which these divers Passions I have proved;
Look in your glass! which will not fail to show
The shadowed portrait of my best beloved.
If that suffice not, look into my heart!
Where it's engraven by a new found art.

XXXII.

The painful ploughman hath his heart's delight;
Who, though his daily toil his body tireth,
Yet merrily comes whistling home at night,
And sweetly takes the ease his pain requireth:
But neither days nor nights can yield me rest;
Born to be wretched, and to live opprest!

XXXIII.

O well were it, if Nature would devise
That men with men together might engender,
As grafts of trees, one from another rise;
Then nought, of due, to women should we render!
But, vain conceit! that Nature should do this;
Since, well we know, herself a woman is!

XXXIV.

Upon the altar where LOVE's fires burnèd,
My Sighs and Tears for sacrifice I offered;
When LOVE, in rage, from me his countenance turnèd,
And did reject what I so humbly proffered.
If he, my heart expect, alas, it's gone!
"How can a man give that, is not his own?"

XXXV.

ALCILIA said, "She did not know my mind,
Because my words did not declare my love!"
Thus, where I merit most, least help I find;
And her unkindness all too late I prove.
Grant, LOVE! that She, of whom thou art neglected,
May one day love, and little be respected!

XXXVI.

[Sidenote: _Amor est otiosorum negotium._]

The Cynic[4] being asked, "When he should love?"
Made answer, "When he nothing had to do;
For Love was Sloth!" But he did never prove
By his experience, what belonged thereto.
For had he tasted but so much as I,
He would have soon reformed his heresy.

XXXVII.

O judge me not, sweet Love, by outward show!
Though sometimes strange I seem, and to neglect thee!
Yet didst thou, but my inward Passions know,
Thou shouldst perceive how highly I respect thee!
"When looks are fixed, the heart ofttimes doth tremble!"
"Little loves he, that cannot much dissemble!"

XXXVIII.

Parting from thee! even from myself I part.
Thou art the star, by which my life is guided!
I have the body, but thou hast the heart!
The better part is from itself divided.
Thus do I live, and this I do sustain,
Till gracious Fortune make us meet again!

Open the sluices of my feeble eyes,
And let my tears have passage from their fountain!
Fill all the earth, with plaints! the air, with cries!
Which may pierce rocks, and reach the highest mountain:
That so, LOVE's wrath, by these extremes appeased;
My griefs may cease, and my poor heart be eased.

XL.

"After long sickness, health brings more delight."
"Seas seem more calm, by storms once overblown."
"The day more cheerful, by the passed night."
"Each thing is, by his contrary best known."
"Continual ease is pain: Change sometimes meeter."
"Discords in music make music sweeter."