The poetical works of Sir John Denham Edited with notes and introduction by Theodore Howard Banks |
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TO HIS MISTRESS
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 | The poetical works of Sir John Denham |  |
TO HIS MISTRESS
Go, Love-born Accents of my dying Heart,Steal into hers, and sweetly there impart
The boundless Love, with which my Soul does swell,
And all my sighs there in soft Echoes tell:
But if her Heart does yet repugnant prove
To all the Blessings that attend my Love;
Tell her the Flames that animate my Soul,
Are pure, and bright, as those Prometheus stole;
From Heav'n, tho' not like his by theft, they come,
But a free Gift, by the eternal Doom.
How partial, cruel Fair one, are your Laws,
To reward th'Effect, and yet condemn the Cause?
Condemn my Love, and yet commend my Lays,
That merits love more than these merit praise.
Yet I to you my Love and Verse submit,
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For as some hold no colours are in deed,
But from Reflection of the Light proceed;
So as you shine, my Verse and I must live,
You can Salvation and Damnation give.
| The poetical works of Sir John Denham | |