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Poems On several Choice and Various Subjects

Occasionally Composed By An Eminent Author. Collected and Published by Sergeant-Major P. F. [i.e. James Howell]

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Upon Black Eyes, and Becoming Frowns.
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

Upon Black Eyes, and Becoming Frowns.

A Sonnet.

Black Eyes, in your dark Orbs doth lie
My ill or happy Destiny:
If with clear looks you me behold,
You give me Mines and Mounts of Gold;
If you dart forth disdainful rays,
To your own dy you turn my days.
Black Eyes, in your dark Orbs by changes dwell
My Bane or Bliss, my Paradis or Hell.

69

That Lamp which all the Stars doth blind,
Yeilds to your lustre in some kind,
Though you do wear to make you bright
No other dress but that of Night.
He glitters onely in the Day,
You in the Dark your beams display.
Black Eyes, in your two Orbs by changes dwell
My Bane or Bliss, my Paradis or Hell.
The cunning Thief that lurks for prize,
At some Dark Corner watching lies:
So that heart-robbing God doth stand
In your Black Lobbies shaft in hand,
To rifle me of what I hold
More precious far then Indian Gold.
Black Eyes, in your dark Orbs by changes dwell
My Bane or Bliss, my Paradis or Hell.
O powerful Negromantic Eyes,
Who in your Circles strictly pries,
Will find that Cupid with his Dart
In you doth practise the Black Art;
And by those Spells I am possest,
Tries his conclusions in my Brest.
Black Eyes, in your dark Orbs by changes dwell
My Bane or Bliss, my Paradis or Hell.

70

Look on me, though in frowning wise;
Some kind of frowns become Black Eyes
As pointed Diamonds being set,
Cast greater lustre out of Jet:
Those pieces we esteem most rare
Which in night-shadows postur'd are:
Darkness in Churches Congregats the sight
Devotion straies in glaring light.
Black Eyes, in your dark Orbs by changes dwell
My Bane or Bliss, my Paradis or Hell.